Labor’s Bill Shorten, Greens MP Adam Bandt and independents Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie give notice of private members’ bills to legalise same-sex marriage

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Labor and a group of Greens and independent MPs have separately given notice that they will introduce private members’ bills to legalise same-sex marriage.

Greens MP Adam Bandt and independents Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie gave notice on Tuesday of a cross-party marriage equality bill, in identical terms to one before the previous parliament.

On Tuesday, as parliament opened for its ceremonial first sitting, opposition leader Bill Shorten confirmed Labor also intended to introduce a bill.

Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) BREAKING: @tanya_plibersek & I have given notice that we intend to introduce a private member's bill to make marriage equality a reality.

The Nick Xenophon Team and the Greens have announced they will block legislation for the government’s proposed marriage equality plebiscite. Labor also seems likely to block the plebiscite, which would mean it could not proceed.



Labor plans to introduce its bill on 12 September, the first available Monday, when private members’ bills are usually introduced.

Only one person has something to gain from a marriage equality plebiscite | Peter Lewis Read more

But it could bring the bill for immediate consideration at any time if it moves to suspend standing orders, meaning it could push it as early as Wednesday or Thursday.

Suspension of standing orders requires 76 votes in the lower house. As Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin has noted, that would require three government MPs to cross the floor.

Given the slim chances of that happening, if Labor did pursue that path it would suggest the bill was more an attempt to embarrass the government over its opposition to a free vote on same-sex marriage.

On Tuesday Bandt said: “Malcolm Turnbull needs to accept that a plebiscite might not get through parliament, but a cross-parliamentary bill might.

“With a plebiscite facing parliamentary defeat, the best path for reform is a bill sponsored by MPs across the political spectrum,” he said.

Coalition conservatives flex muscle over marriage equality and 18C Read more

“I am proud to join Andrew Wilkie and Cathy McGowan to bring the cross-party marriage equality bill into the new parliament and I will be actively seeking Labor and Liberal co-sponsors.”

Australian Marriage Equality (AME) has met the Coalition, Labor, Greens and NXT warning it won’t accept a political impasse. It has proposed options including joint-party legislation of the type proposed by Bandt, Wilkie and McGowan.

Bandt said the proposed plebiscite was “at best wasteful and unnecessary and at worst destructive and harmful to so many people across the country”.

“We can achieve marriage equality through a vote in parliament, just like we do for every other policy issue.”

The attorney general, George Brandis, and pro-marriage equality Liberal MPs have warned Labor must support the plebiscite or marriage equality will be off the agenda for years.

Senior Coalition minister Christopher Pyne has suggested the government could work with Labor to reach a more favourable wording of the same-sex marriage plebiscite to break the developing impasse.