

As the bill, sponsored by Labor’s Stephen Jones, is a private member’s bill, there is only limited time for debate in Australian parliament on Mondays. This would mean a final vote would not take place until at least the end of the year.
Advocates of same-sex marriage accept that Parliament will defeat the push to legalise gay marriage.
Greens MP Adam Bandt has his own separate bill and will delay a vote on that until later this year or early next year in the hope public pressure changes minds.
Finance Minister, Penny Wong, one of the strongest proponents for a change to the Marriage Act, told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that change would eventually come.
“I think the campaign is not going to go away because ultimately it’s a campaign for people’s equality,” she said.