Prime minister says the dust needs to settle first, following the defeat of the Coalition’s plebiscite bill in the Senate

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, says the government has “no plans” to advance marriage equality following the defeat of its plebiscite bill, and that the dust must settle before it is clear if same-sex marriage will be considered again.

After the plebiscite bill was defeated in the Senate on Monday, government MPs offered views ranging from those of Dean Smith, who called for a same-sex marriage bill to be considered this term, to Trevor Evans, who said the issue would naturally return to the party room, and others who said the party must stick to the plebiscite policy this term.

On Friday, Turnbull told 3AW Radio “we’ve got to let the dust settle” before it becomes clear if same-sex marriage will be considered again this term.

“But the tragedy of all this is that Labor, for purely political purposes ... chose to block the plebiscite.”

Turnbull said that if the plebiscite bill had passed, the non-binding vote on 11 February would have been in favour of same-sex marriage and “gay couples would’ve been able to get married”.

Marriage equality plebiscite bill voted down in Senate Read more

“We have no plans to take any other measures on this issue – our commitment was to a plebiscite, we took a plebiscite to the election, we won the election, it passed the House of Representatives and went to the Senate.

“Thanks to the Labor party it’s been rejected. There won’t be a plebiscite on 11 February. That’s entirely Bill Shorten’s doing – and he should hang his head in shame over that.”

On Tuesday, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, and the defence industry minister, Christopher Pyne, used the same “dust must settle” formulation. Morrison said the government had “other priority matters now that we need to get on with”.

Pyne said it would be foolish to make a decision in the heat of the moment about what the next steps might be.

“I will always support marriage equality, but unfortunately Bill Shorten has snuffed out the prospects of that in the short term,” he told Sky News.



Turnbull has not ruled out reconsidering a free vote or a government-initiated bill on same-sex marriage. Coalition MPs say privately that the issue will not be reconsidered this year.

The Liberal MP Warren Entsch, who joined a cross-party marriage equality bill in the last parliament, prompting the marathon party room meeting from which the plebiscite idea emerged, has stepped away from the issue.

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In comments to Guardian Australia on Tuesday, Entsch said marriage equality advocates would “need to find themselves a new champion” because he would not push for a free vote this term.

Entsch has said he had been approached by LGBTI people who wanted a plebiscite and that he believed those who opposed it did not speak for the whole community.

The Liberal MP Trevor Evans told Guardian Australia he believed same-sex marriage would “naturally” be considered again by the party room, it was likely to come up again this term, and he would support a substantive marriage equality bill.

Asked about the statement by the former prime minister Tony Abbott that the 44th parliament would be the last in which Coalition MPs were bound on marriage equality, Evans said Coalition MPs would have a free vote on a substantive bill but “the difficulty ... is bringing a bill to the floor of parliament in the first place”.

Coalition MPs do not have a free vote on procedural issues that could force consideration of a private members’ bill, Evans and other moderates including Trent Zimmerman have warned.

Evans said he would “think carefully but won’t commit” to join a cross-party marriage equality bill, but noted that was not the only way the issue could return.

In a sign of how things could alter, Turnbull said as recently as August that the government had “no plans” to change section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, but by November the government launched an inquiry to consider amending the section.

“The difficulty I think is making sure [same-sex marriage is] locked back into the government’s legislative agenda,” Evans said.’

Marriage equality plebiscite will not go ahead after Labor unanimously decides to block it Read more

He said the parliamentary schedule was full for the rest of this year, and Labor’s decision to block the plebiscite “will drag [marriage equality] out much longer”.

The Liberal MP Andrew Laming said the Coalition was committed to the plebiscite as the path forward to decide on same-sex marriage.

“I don’t see alternative paths ... I don’t expect there to be alternative ... the plebiscite was our election commitment.”

The Liberal senator James Paterson said the Coalition would stick to its policy of a plebiscite in this parliamentary term, but indicated that could change after a discussion of the party room.

“I support same-sex marriage and it’s a sad thing the opportunity to make it reality is gone now,” he said.