The use of plebiscites to settle policy questions is “dead” and the prospects of a cross-party vote on marriage equality are “much brighter than ever before”, according to the Liberal senator Dean Smith.

Smith, the first openly gay federal Liberal parliamentarian, made the comments to Guardian Australia in a wide-ranging interview on his contribution to the marriage equality and free speech debates in 2016, and the direction of the Coalition.

The Western Australian senator was the only Coalition MP or senator to publicly oppose the same-sex marriage plebiscite on the basis that it undermined parliamentary democracy. He called for a free vote in the life of the 45th parliament.

Smith also called for a broadening of the free speech debate by advocating the joint parliamentary inquiry examine all dimensions of free speech, not just the curbs on expression in section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

He rattled off a range of issues in which he split from the parliamentary party since he entered the Senate in 2012, including opposing the deregulation of Australia’s wheat marketing arrangements and being the first to oppose the Coalition’s bipartisan commitment to recognise local governments in the constitution. Smith’s independence stems from some advice from John Howard. Smith was an adviser to the former prime minister.

“[Howard] shared a powerful observation with me early in my parliamentary career at the time of the wheat debate,” he said. “I met with him in his Sydney office and … one thing he said has always stuck with me. He said that in his view, if people don’t stand up for something early in their parliamentary life, then they don’t usually stand up at all.”

Marriage equality

On the plebiscite issue, Smith labelled the proposed national vote, blocked by the Senate, “alien to our modern style of parliamentary democracy”.

Smith said he believes “the idea of plebiscites as a means of resolving policy issues in Australia is now well and truly dead”, despite the uncertainty about whether the Coalition will maintain its support for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage.

“At the end of the day we all have to walk with our own conscience, and I am very comfortable with the decision I made. I did not come to parliament to argue for same-sex marriage. So it does surprise me that I have become such a strong and clear advocate for marriage.”

In addition to consistently being guided by conscience, Smith said every time he had split from his parliamentary colleagues it was in defence of the stated position of the Western Australia Liberal party. “And on the plebiscite, my position was the same as the WA premier,” he added.

He will serve on the Senate committee scrutinising the government’s same-sex marriage bill exposure draft, and said it was the “most significant legislative option on the issue of marriage to have been put up for public scrutiny”. He suggested that the committee inquiry could report on how to make it a better bill, including striking the best balance between religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws.

Malcolm Turnbull said the government has “no plans” to advance marriage equality since the plebiscite was blocked. But Smith says the prospects for a successful parliamentary vote on marriage equality, with religious exemptions, are much brighter than ever before.

He said dealing with such a bill through a conscience vote was the most defensible because it is “consistent with the customs and traditions of the party over many, many years”.

On the matter of whether he would support a vote for a cross-party same-sex marriage bill in the Senate, Smith noted only that the use of private senators’ bills to advance reform of section 18C “demonstrates that senators are offered more freedoms, and opportunities to pursue legislative change than their house colleagues”.

Free speech: it’s not just 18C

In the free speech debate, Smith said he was one of the first to propose refining section 18C after the Abbott government dropped its commitment to repeal the law. He’s pleased with the terms of reference of the inquiry, which he says are broad and include examining the Law Reform Commission report on traditional rights and freedoms.

“I think to have credibility it would be prudent of the parliamentary inquiry to give consideration to other free speech issues that are of interest to other politicians and political parties, such as defamation laws. It doesn’t mean the inquiry has to come to a conclusive view ... but the Law Reform Commission report is a very important foundation on which the parliamentary inquiry can build.”

Smith’s thinking on the reasons for seeking refinement of section 18C is of a piece with his colleagues. Instances of hurtful speech should be combated not by “abrogating personal responsibility and putting trust in the government and laws” but defeated in the court of public opinion.

Elitism, the monarchy and the return of One Nation

Another issue that puts Smith in the conservative camp of his party is the republic. Smith describes himself as “a devoted constitutional monarchist”. Although Turnbull led the unsuccessful “yes” campaign in the 1999 republic referendum and several other senior Liberals are republicans, the majority are either opposed or undeclared on the issue.

“People quickly forget that Australia has already had its Trump and Brexit moments – the defeat of the republic referendum was a triumph of the ordinary folk over elites, country over city, small states over the Melbourne-Sydney-Canberra axis,” Smith said. “And of course the media called it wrongly.”

Smith said the monarchy was a symbol of authority and unity “free from partisan politics”, implying a flaw in both the republican models of direct election or appointment of the president by parliament. “The challenge is still for republicans to agree an alternative model, and there is little chance of unanimity on that point in the near future. The crown in the Australian constitution has nothing to fear from republicanism for a very, very long time.”

While Smith sees the monarchy as a solid foundation of Australia’s democracy, little else seemed quite so solid in 2016.

The July double dissolution saw the election of four One Nation senators. The Coalition and particularly its junior partner, the regional and rural National party, are concerned One Nation is eating into its support with its populist economic and anti-immigration platform.

Minor parties and independents now hold 11 crossbench seats in the Senate, or 20 if the Australian Greens are included.

The explanation, according to Smith, is that “people detest inauthenticity and insincerity, and have tired and grown cynical of the talking points and the same old partisan games”.



Of Pauline Hanson, Smith said: “People see in her battle something they can relate to, and something that they can respect. Voters are looking for straight talking, an honest assessment of their problems and above all else someone to take a real interest in their local challenges and get their local issues dealt with.”

Smith told Guardian Australia the most fascinating debate in politics at the moment was within the conservative movement about what it means to be a conservative and whether cultural or economic questions should be the focus.

“Years ago, the demarcation line between conservatives and moderates in the Liberal party was the issue of the republic. Today, some try to paint the new line as being same-sex marriage.” But Smith warned against such a litmus test because conservatism “can only succeed if it grows”.

Asked how society determines which institutions should change (such as marriage) and which should stay the same (which Smith says includes the monarchy), he said Australians are instinctively conservative, but they are not reactionary, they are capable of embracing change on their own terms and in their own time.

“Anyone that says to me, or advocates, that they want time to stand still or to go back into time … I treat with great caution.”

Economy

Asked about the issue on which the Coalition could most improve with respect to these measures, Smith said the biggest challenge is the economy.

“We need to give people greater confidence in their economic future ... To convince them to accept the Liberal economic agenda: that free trade, smaller government and lower taxes is the best way for ordinary Australians to protect their families.”

Smith knows more than most about how to pitch that economic message. He grew up in a working class suburb of Perth and attended state primary and secondary schools. His father was a police officer for 35 years; his mother did a range of part-time work. Smith represents the Western Australian point of view most strongly on the distribution of the goods and services tax, taking aim at the formula that now gives the state just 30 cents in the dollar back for tax paid in the state. “The GST distribution reform argument isn’t so much about geography as it is about basic fairness. I’m not sure that even the most parochial Tasmanian or South Australian can mount much of a case [for the current allocation].”

He said even the New South Wales government “is starting to bang the drum” on GST distribution “because they recognise that the formula as it currently exist actually punishes success and economic reform, and rewards mendicants”.