Pyne rejects marriage referendum

Another Cabinet minister has come out to reject colleague Scott Morrison's push for a referendum on same-sex marriage.

Attorney General George Brandis has dismissed the suggestion of changing the constitution, labelling Mr Morrison's proposal as entirely unnecessary.

Christopher Pyne agreed on Friday, telling the Nine Network "a referendum would cost a great deal of money, in fact only to achieve no outcome because there is no legal basis for a referendum".

Mr Pyne believes the Liberal party should have had its own meeting on the issue without its National party colleagues.

But one Nationals MP, George Christensen, said Mr Pyne doesn't run the show and his party has a right to be in the Coalition party-room.

"If we've got ministers saying that they don't want the Nationals in there when decisions are going to be made then boy oh boy isn't it going to be pretty tricky for them if the Nationals take a different point of view on every government policy," he told reporters.

Originally published as Pyne rejects marriage referendum