Two senior Coalition ministers have refused to say how they would vote if the marriage equality plebiscite is successful, saying only that they would “respect” the result.
The refusal of the treasurer, Scott Morrison, and the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, to say they would vote for same-sex marriage leaves open the possibility MPs who say they will “respect” the result may abstain.
On ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday, Morrison said: “If the plebiscite is carried nationally then the legislation should pass.”
Host Leigh Sales asked Morrison six times how he would vote in parliament after the plebiscite.
Morrison said: “I have said that I will respect the outcome of the plebiscite entirely.”
When Sales noted the answer did not make it clear how Morrison would personally vote, he replied: “I beg to differ.
“What I will do is respect the outcome of the plebiscite. And if the plebiscite passes, then the legislation will pass. I give you that commitment.”
It follows Morrison’s comments earlier on Radio National he would “respect the decision that the country makes on this”.
On Lateline on Tuesday Bishop was asked what the “plan B” was if parliament rejected the plebiscite, after comments from the Labor leader, Bill shorten, that Labor would not honour Malcolm Turnbull’s “deal” to have a popular vote.
Bishop said the Coalition had gone to the election promising a plebiscite, and Labor and other senators should respect its mandate if the government was re-elected.
Asked how she would vote after the plebiscite, Bishop said: “That would depend on the plebiscite vote overall, how it’s broken down and what it looks like state by state, electorate by electorate and what the legislation looks like.
“But I would respect the outcome of the plebiscite, obviously.”
Bishop said she would take her electorate and the national result into account, and said it was “pretty compelling” if same-sex marriage was endorsed by a national majority.
On Wednesday, Malcolm Turnbull confirmed Coalition MPs would get a free vote on same-sex marriage. He said a number of senior Coalition members who intended to vote no in the plebiscite “have said they will vote for it in the parliament” if the plebiscite is successful.
“There may be others who will choose to abstain but I can assure you ... if the Australian people speak in favour of same-sex marriage in the plebiscite, it will be legislated. There is no question about that.”
Turnbull said the plebiscite should be held “as quickly as possible”, and there was time to hold it this year.
“The administrative details have not been finalised but I expect the plebiscite to be very similar to the mechanism used for a referendum.”
A spokesman for the prime minister said the plebiscite would require only a simple majority, not a majority in the majority of states, and voting would be compulsory.
That follows Tasmanian MP Andrew Nikolic telling a Bass candidates forum on 22 June he would vote for same-sex marriage if his electorate supported it at a plebiscite.
Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie has said if his electorate of Canning voted for same-sex marriage in the plebiscite it would be his obligation to “push that through”.
On Friday MP Craig Kelly told Guardian Australia he would vote in favour if his electorate did, but reserved the right to oppose same-sex marriage if his electorate voted against it.
Shorten has also been on the defensive over the same-sex marriage issue, after video emerged of him addressing the Australian Christian Lobby in 2013 saying he would rather the Australian people express their view than have a parliamentary vote.
It contrasts with his warning at the Labor launch on 19 June that a plebiscite would be a platform for homophobia.
On Radio National on Wednesday, Shorten explained since 2013 “community attitudes have moved on” and at the Irish referendum in 2015 “some of the arguments which emerged were really ugly and repugnant”.
“I’m sure that some people think the plebiscite is the way to go,” he said. “I no longer have that view.
“I don’t think we should have $160m taxpayer-funded opinion poll which conservatives in the Liberal party say they will not be bound by.”
Shorten said the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had also opposed a plebiscite before he took over as prime minister in September.
He called the plebiscite a “stitch-up to get some Abbott conservatives to vote for [Turnbull] in the internal civil wars in the Liberal party”.
“That is the only reason he is doing this and I don’t think the rest of us should have to pay the price when the community has moved on, principally,” he said.
The Coalition campaign spokesman, Mathias Cormann, said that Shorten’s warnings about a marriage equality plebiscite had been “bordering on the hysterical”.
