The president of the Queensland LNP, Gary Spence, to criticise elected MPs who are pushing for a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage.
Mr Spence said he was “disappointed” some Coalition MPs now want to ditch the government’s promised plebiscite, urging them not to be “distracted by matters peripheral”.
The rebuke comes as Queensland LNP member Warren Entsch, who strongly supports same-sex marriage, has continued to advocate a free vote in parliament.
“Be under no illusion, irrespective of what you call it, any form of plebiscite is dead, cremated and cannot be resurrected,” Mr Entsch wrote in a column for the News Corp papers on Wednesday.
“In my view, the only way to resolve this issue once and for all is with a vote in the Parliament.”
A group of Liberal backbenchers are pushing for a Coalition partyroom debate on same-sex marriage.
Western Australian MP Dean Smith is drafting a private members bill, warning his government “would continue to harm itself by delaying a free vote”.
But conservatives in the party are warning against any push to legalise same-sex marriage through a parliamentary vote.
Eric Abetz, the Liberal Tasmanian senator, said it would be a “grave matter” if members of his own party crossed the floor to vote with Labor on the matter.
“What it would tell the Australian people is that the government has lost its authority, has lost control on the floor of the house,” he said.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has said members of his party have the right to vote against the government.
Senior Labor figure Penny Wong said the government could not avoid a vote forever.
“If you look at the number of Liberal MPs who have talked about this it’s clear that there is a possibility this matter could be dealt with in the House. I think that would be a good thing.”
New poll shows public support for same-sex marriage strong and growing
A significant majority of Australian men and women support same-sex marriage, according to new data from the long-running HILDA study by the University of Melbourne.
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey interviews the same 17,000 people each year on a range of issues.
The proportion of women supporting same-sex marriage has lifted from 43 per cent in 2005 to 67 per cent in 2015.
"In a sense that debate has kind of been won in terms of community attitudes, it just seems that the political system hasn't caught up," study author Professor Roger Wilkins told AAP.
Young men aged 15 to 24 had the biggest positive shift.
- with AAP
