Federal MP Warren Entsch: "The Prime Minister has not called me. Not at all. His office hasn't called up." Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "I read about that, I read about threats from the Prime Minister, I read about the Prime Minister calling me and Dean and – all information comes from anonymous sources," Mr Entsch said. "They haven't got the balls to actually put their names to it. "And all fairness and accuracy, the Prime Minister has not called me. Not at all. His office hasn't called up. "These guys spread this sort of nonsense; they get personal on this sort of stuff.

Mr Entsch, pictured with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, supports a free vote on same-sex marriage Credit:Andrew Meares "And if they had the balls like we had, to stand up and state our position and be accountable of it – then it goes to the level of individual that they are." Queensland LNP president Gary Spence sent a letter to supporters on Tuesday, expressing "disappointment" that "members elected under the LNP banner have chosen to take a position that defies LNP policy and the wishes of the LNP's membership", in what is being seen as a warning shot to Queensland MPs Mr Evans and Mr Entsch over their public support for a free vote. Coalition MPs Dean Smith, Trent Zimmerman, Tim Wilson, Trevor Evans and Warren Entsch. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Entsch said he was "disgusted" with the letter – and rang Mr Spence to tell him so.

"I think it is [a threat] a veiled threat," Mr Entsch said. "I am disgusted with it and I reminded him I am a Liberal, I am not an LNP member in the national parliament and there are lots and lots of [resolutions] that go through the state, which are different to the federal resolutions and – which one do you take? "They are there as a guide. They are not there to lock you in and if we wanted that, we would have joined the Labor Party. "I just said to him [Gary Spence] that I think it is particularly galling that this sort of message goes out to members who have only been around for a short time – it does intimidate them and I think it is wrong, it is absolutely wrong," he said. There were better ways to handle the debate, Mr Entsch said, particularly given how long Australia had been having it.

"All I am asking for is to have a bloody vote," he said. "Many of my colleagues have asked for that and I have accommodated, or facilitated their right to have a vote, even though I might have voted on the other side, I gave them the opportunity to have a vote out of respect. "I am not asking them to change their vote, I am not asking them – they can abstain! I am just asking to have a vote and I think whatever the outcome of that vote I am more than happy to abide by that decision." Mr Turnbull has not ruled out holding a postal plebiscite as a way of deciding the issue. It wouldn't be the first time a Coalition MP crossed the floor. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce voted against his party repeatedly on issues he did not believe in, or said his electorate did not agree with, telling media on Wednesday he had crossed 28 times.

When National MPs John WIlliams and Bridget McKenzie crossed the floor on guns late last year, Mr Joyce said he "believed in the freedom of the individual [and] I'm proud of that culture in our party". Mr Turnbull crossed the floor himself in 2010, to sit with Labor during a second reading vote on an emissions trading scheme, while Liberal MPs Peter Georgiou, Russell Broadbent and Judi Moylan strongly disagreed with, and voted against, the then-Howard government's off-shore detention legislation. Loading Ms Moylan also crossed the floor to protest cuts to single parent payments. Follow us on Facebook