Flanked by rainbow flags and community leaders, including Sydney city councillor Christine Forster, the sister of Tony Abbott, he [should have] delivered the following remarks.

My fellow Australians,

Just under two years ago, I spoke to you from Canberra. I had determined that after 30 Newspolls that showed our government behind, it was time for a change. I put my hand up and took responsibility for winning back the trust of the Australian people.

That change succeeded. Last year, you trusted me and my team to govern Australia for three more years. But since then, Newspoll has been telling us once more that we aren’t doing a good enough job of delivering good government. So once again, I’m putting my hand up to make a change.

The country doesn’t need more instability. So instead of yet again changing PM, this PM stands ready to change – a change of heart, and a change of plan.

Australians are tired of hearing from leaders who only want to save their skin, who serve up spin instead of being honest. Well, from today, that changes too.

Let’s be frank. Under the last prime minister, our party room decided to put same-sex marriage to a plebiscite. Everybody knows that this was a delaying tactic, to put off a vote in the parliament that would have succeeded.

Everybody also knows that I argued against that approach. It was my belief then that a plebiscite was a waste of time and money when every poll shows us in the parliament that you, the Australian people, are ready for a change.

So today, I announce that the government I lead will no longer pursue a plebiscite, by postal means or any other. We already know what you think. The party of fiscal responsibility should not waste more than $100mn finding an answer we already have.

What I think, what the majority of my colleagues in the parliament think, and what you think, overwhelmingly, is that it’s time to get this done. So, let’s get it done.

Marriage equality is about the principle that our party holds most dear, the principle on which Sir Robert Menzies founded the Liberal Party – freedom.

Marriage is the ultimate act of individual liberty; joining two individuals freely together, to the exclusion of all others, for life. Those partners promise to work together for common goals – just as our own Coalition does. So marriage equality is something that the party of freedom must support. We should not be restricting individuals’ freedom to marry, we should be protecting it.

Marriage equality is also about family. We have so many kinds of families in Australia today – straight families, gay families, and blended families. We are all part of modern families with all their diversity and complexity, even those of us who oppose same-sex marriage – and I want to thank Christine Forster for her tireless advocacy on this issue.

We in the Coalition have always believed that family is the fundamental building block of Australian society. Marriage equality offers more of our families a more perfect union.

And then there is, to cite a great liberal principle, the pursuit of happiness. Those of us who are lucky enough to be in happy marriages know how much joy that relationship can bring to our lives. I have been fortunate to enjoy a long happy marriage, and I believe that this chance at happiness should be available to all of us.

Making this change will allow individuals to become legally joined as a family, in the hope and trust of happiness. These are Coalition values. These are Australian values. And they are ones we should support.

We are also the party of small business. Just think what a bonanza this change will be for thousands of small businesses across the country! For Australia’s florists, caterers, bakers, venue operators, musicians, and of course, celebrants – this is the best news you’ve ever heard. Marriage equality makes economic sense too.

To those who oppose this change, I promise that we will respect your religious freedom in the manner outlined in the bill that some of my colleagues recently proposed. The Coalition will guarantee the freedom of those who disagree with this change.

But besides religious marriage, Australia has a system of secular marriage. And that system cannot justify the exclusion of some of us on the basis of their sexuality. We Australians hold fairness dearly, and we cannot have real equality without marriage equality.

Same sex marriage is now legal in all of the countries with whom we share some of our historical roots and our system of government – in the UK, the US, New Zealand, Ireland and Canada. It’s legal across much of Western Europe, as well as South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia. That list contains many of Australia’s closest friends and allies, and it is a list that Australia must join.

Look at these other countries’ example, and you can see what will happen here. There will be an outbreak of joy and celebration as countless couples that have been waiting for far too long are allowed to tie the knot at last.

But for everybody else, life will go on. The sky will not fall in. The only change you can expect is more wedding invitations.

There are those who will think that my words today mean I should lose my job. They are entitled to that view, and as we well know, Australian PMs can be challenged!

But the polls are also clear that the people of Australia are so kind as to prefer me as prime minister to any other candidate on my side of politics – and also to Bill Shorten. I thank you for your support, and I remind my colleagues that these numbers say that the only way we will win the next election is if we unite under my leadership. That is what the Australian people want us to do.

If anyone disagrees, they can come after me. But if they succeed, they might as well hand Bill Shorten the keys to the Lodge now. It could not be clearer that the Australian people don’t want a return to the Abbott government, under him or anybody else.

What the Australian people want is a government that listens and then acts. For years now, they have been telling us to make marriage equality happen. We have heard you, and we will do this. Under a free vote, as that’s the Coalition way; but I am certain that the bill will get up.

I want to celebrate with all of the same-sex couples who will be able to get hitched when we change the law, and so I want to invite you, your families and friends to join me and my colleagues on the lawns of parliament on Valentine’s Day next year for the biggest celebration of love that Australia has ever seen.

We will put some of the $100 million we are saving here towards celebrating a special moment in our nation’s history, as we remove another barrier to equality for all of us.

John Howard was elected in 1996 under the banner “for all of us”. Well, this change will deliver marriage for all of us. We Australians throw rainbow coloured confetti on our wedding days. So let’s join together in our parliament and deliver some confetti to the full spectrum of Australian relationships.