"Friends, we are in the winner's circle but we have to deliver a couple of things and one of those we've got to deliver before too long is marriage equality in this country," Mr Pyne said, according to Bolt's account of the recording. "Winner's circle": Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne. Credit:Andrew Meares "We're going to get it. I think it might even be sooner than everyone thinks. And your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome." Mr Pyne, a close ally of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, boasted of the moderate faction's success since the elevation of Mr Turnbull to the leadership in September 2015. Mr Turnbull is a supporter of same-sex marriage but has resisted allowing his party room a free vote on the issue. The government took former prime minister Tony Abbott's policy of a plebiscite to the 2016 election.

The Senate rejected the proposal in November and, while same-sex marriage has not been in the spotlight since then, moderate forces are said to have been strategising behind the scenes. WA senator Dean Smith, a vocal backer of same-sex marriage, told HuffPost that the plebiscite policy should be revisited in August. Attorney-General George Brandis, backbencher Trent Zimmerman, lobbyist and powerbroker Michael Photios and City of Sydney councillor Christine Forster, Mr Abbott's sister, were reportedly present at the Friday event. Asked about Mr Pyne's comments on Monday morning, Mr Turnbull said the government's policy was a plebiscite "and we are sticking to it". "Our policy is clear, we have no plans to change it, full stop," he said.

Mr Abbott said it looked like Mr Pyne wasn't being "fair dinkum" with the Australian people and suggested he was being disloyal to the government. "This appears to be the confession that he has made to his close colleagues in the left faction," Mr Abbott told Sydney radio station 2GB, saying abandonment of the plebiscite would be a "breach of faith" with voters. Mr Pyne downplayed the remarks, saying he was a supporter of same-sex marriage and criticising Labor for opposing the public vote. "The government has no plans to alter the policy," he said in a statement. Social conservatives Treasurer Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, the leader of the Nationals, dismissed the reports.

Mr Morrison said "there is no move away from the plebiscite policy". Mr Joyce said he was concentrating on trade and agriculture. "What happens at dinners and other parts of Sydney is of no real consequence to me," he said during a visit to London. While the Prime Minister is aligned with the moderate faction of his party, he has won the support of conservative colleagues - and Coalition partners the Nationals - by making compromises in several policy areas. Follow us on Facebook