Conservative senator says wording will be decided after the election and he expects the parliament to respect will of the public

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The question for a same-sex marriage plebiscite and its implications have been branded a “fifth-order issue at best” by the conservative senator Cory Bernardi.

On Monday Bernardi said the details of the plebiscite including the question would be determined after the election.

“It will happen in the next term of government. That’s the first thing,” he said. “Yes I’m interested in the wording as well and the implications. This is not a pressing issue. This is a fifth-order issue at best.

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“We’ve made an election commitment. Labor have a contrasting election commitment. If you want some certainty going forward you go the Coalition’s way and you vote for the Coalition at the next election.”

On Thursday the Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman told Guardian Australia the plebiscite question should be a straightforward change to the Marriage Act subject to the exemption that ministers of religion can choose not to perform same-sex weddings.

“I don’t think there should be any exemption for the cake providers, I think normal anti-discrimination laws should apply,” he said.

Zimmerman, the recently elected and openly gay MP for North Sydney, used his inaugural parliamentary speech to back same-sex marriage.

Zimmerman said the government had committed to hold a plebiscite, which could happen before the end of the year if the election were held in July. He said if he had been in the party room in August he would have advocated a free parliamentary vote, not a plebiscite, but it was too late to revisit the decision.

Malcolm Turnbull has maintained plans for a plebiscite after the next federal election, despite opposing the idea when the then prime minister, Tony Abbott, suggested it at a joint party room meeting last year.

The attorney general, George Brandis, planned to finalise details for the plebiscite in March, including details of exemptions to anti-discrimination law and public funding.

But, due to division in the party room, plans to finalise details of the plebiscite were shelved, raising the prospect that voters will not know whether the plebiscite would change discrimination law when they vote at the federal election.

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Labor proposes to ditch the plebiscite and bring a same-sex marriage bill to a vote within 100 days of the new parliament after the election. It has also committed not to expand discrimination law exemptions to allow goods or service providers to refuse to serve gay weddings.

Bernardi said: “I’m saying our policy is quite straightforward. We will have a plebiscite, the people of Australia will decide whether they want to redefine marriage, rather than just a special interest group.”

Bernardi said he would represent the “great many Australians who don’t want to see marriage redefined ... as vigorously as I possibly can”.

“The issue is if it goes to a plebiscite I would expect the parliament to respect the will of that but, having said that, I think it’s still up to many of us to represent the interests of those who may not be on the winning side,” he said. “I go into this with a mind that is open to the Australian people saying that we don’t want to redefine marriage.”