MPs want free vote on gays

Momentum is building for Australia to relinquish its ‘‘odd one out’’ position on same-sex marriage, with Labor set to introduce a private member's bill next week and Prime Minister Tony Abbott under pressure to allow his Liberal MPs a free vote.

With last weekend's successful referendum in Catholic Ireland reigniting debate, increasing numbers of federal politicians from left and right are publicly changing their stance, bringing the prospect of a change in the law within sight.

However, for the same-sex marriage legislation to pass, Abbott would need to give his MPs and senators a conscience vote — a move he has resisted, despite pressure from some in his own party and from his openly gay sister, Christine Forster.

A Liberal councillor in Sydney, Forster told Sky News yesterday: ‘‘I'd like something more from the current Prime Minister, who happens to be my brother . . . I hope the [Liberal] party room tells him that they very firmly believe it's a conscience issue and [that] he will abide by what they tell him.’’

Australia is now ‘‘the odd one out’’ among British Commonwealth countries in not permitting same-sex couples to marry, as the federal Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, noted this week.

A long-time supporter of same-sex unions, Turnbull told the ABC he expected Parliament to amend the Marriage Act before the end of this year. ‘‘There is a change in sentiment all the time,’’ he said. ‘‘I have never seen a social issue on which attitudes have changed as rapidly as this one.’’

Abbott yesterday promised ‘‘a full and frank and candid and decent debate’’ in the party room, but indicated it would not take place until a vote was imminent.

Some Liberals are angry about Labor leader Bill Shorten's announcement of the private bill, saying it threatens to undermine their delicate negotiations behind the scenes and accusing him of politicising the issue.

However, Shorten, who last month squashed a call from his deputy, Tanya Plibersek, to force Labor politicians to support reform, shrugged off that criticism. ‘‘I think Australia needs to move forward and catch up with the times,’’ he said.

Reformers believe it is only a matter of time before Australia follows the lead of, among others, New Zealand, Britain, Canada and 37 US states. An opinion poll last year found that 72 per cent of Australians want the law changed.

Although Shorten will introduce his bill into the House of Representatives next Monday, it could languish in parliamentary committees for months. The Greens already have a same-sex marriage bill in the Senate, as does the libertarian Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm.

The issue was last debated, and rejected, by Parliament in 2012. This week, two prominent figures on the Labor right, Joel Fitzgibbon and Tony Burke, publicly recanted their opposition to gay unions.