“The government has always said that a decision on same-sex marriage will be made by a vote of all Australians in a national plebiscite to be held as soon as practicable”, she said.
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Malcolm Turnbull has broken his election pledge to vote on gay marriage by the end of the year by announcing a national plebiscite for February 2017.
Turnbull had gone to the election promising a vote before the end of this year.
Mr Turnbull has previously said he was confident laws to allow same-sex marriage would “sail through” Parliament if a majority of Australians voted for it in a plebiscite.
But in a statement from the Prime Minister’s office, seen by the ABC, the Federal Government says no timing of the plebiscite has been made.
The mechanics of the plebiscite, including the specific question and also the timing, are subject to the usual cabinet processes.
A spokeswoman for the prime minister said the issue had yet to go to cabinet following the advice from the Australian Electoral Commission.
“My preference was to have it dealt with by a conscience vote, a free vote in the Parliament”, he said, while choosing to stick with the decision made by the Cabinet under Abbott’s leadership.
Marriage equality campaigner Rodney Croome said the plebiscite process had been fraught with delays and confusion.
“We know that the result won’t be binding on politicians, that it’s going to cost a lot of money, that’s going to damage many people”.
Bill Shorten has criticised the expense of the exercise.
The plebiscite arose out of a long debate in the Coalition party room past year, shortly before Tony Abbott was deposed as leader.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten is expected to launch a last-minute bid to legalize same-sex marriage by introducing a bill to parliament in the coming weeks.
Australians would be asked the simple question: do you approve of a law to permit people of the same sex to marry?
“Let’s just get on with it”.
Labor frontbencher Shayne Neumann said he was not just anxious about the waste of taxpayers’ money but the harm and injury debate on the plebiscite would cause gay communities around the country. “And no guarantee he’ll bind the members of his own caucus if the public votes for it, as I expect they will”.
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale wasn’t surprised to see the plebiscite potentially pushed back to next year.
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The delay and the Liberal division is manna for Labor, which is strongly opposed to the plebiscite and urges a parliamentary vote.
