Malcolm Turnbull has suggested the plebiscite on same-sex marriage may not take place until early next year now, rather than this year.

He also says he would like the joint standing committee on electoral matters, whose job it will be to review the election campaign, to look seriously at Labor’s Medicare scare campaign and to consider extending truth in advertising laws to cover political advertising.

Speaking on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday, Turnbull said he would like to put the legislation for his proposed corporate tax cuts before parliament by the end of the year, along with his changes to superannuation.



But he said all the votes have still not been counted, and parliament will not sit until 30 August, so there may not be enough time to pass the required legislation before the end of the year.

“We would like the plebiscite to be held as soon as practicable, but again, that will depend on when the legislation is passed,” he said.

“If it is not held, you know, in the latter half of this year, and recognising that parliament will be sitting for the first time on 30 August, then it would be held early next year.

“My commitment to have it dealt with as soon as practicable is there, but we ... have to obtain the support of the Senate. We don’t even know who the senators will be at this stage.”

He also said he would like to pursue seriously Labor’s Medicare scare campaign during the election, saying Labor was peddling an “outrageous falsehood” and when senior Labor figures were brought to account on it, they laughed about how clever they were to fool people.

When asked whether he would extend truth in advertising laws to cover political advertising, he said he knew South Australian senator Nick Xenophon was a strong advocate of the idea.

“We are going to have a very close look at a whole range of issues associated with this election,” he said.

“That will be done through the joint standing committee on electoral matters which reviews every election.

“It is something about which Australians should be very concerned, that powered by millions of dollars of union money, the Labor party came close to winning this election based on a shocking lie,” he said.

He also refused to directly answer whether he had donated $1m of his money to the Liberal party in the last half of the election campaign.

He brushed away concerns that such a large donation, upon which the Liberal Party obviously relied, may dissuade colleagues from speaking forthrightly to him on important matters.

“I think you’ll find that the Liberal party is a very robust organisation,” he said, before warning that the real questions about financial dependence should be addressed to the Labor party, “which has come increasingly under the domination of militant trade unions.”

Late last week, senior Liberal senator Eric Abetz warned that it would be “difficult” to hold a plebiscite on same-sex marriage before the end of the year because it must go through the proper processes and those processes would take time.

He also cautioned that Australia should not rush to a same-sex marriage plebiscite.

“Everybody should be concerned if something as fundamental as changing our foundational institution of society, if the plebiscite on that were rushed,” Abetz said.

Turnbull announced his post-election reshuffle of portfolios on Monday, ignoring calls to return Tony Abbott to the frontbench.