Government backbencher and marriage equality advocate Warren Entsch says the Turnbull government should now emulate Labor’s commitment to legalise same-sex marriage within 100 days of taking office.
Entsch told Guardian Australia on Tuesday the government should quickly settle the question to be put to voters, confirm the timing of the plebiscite and make those facts known to voters before they go to the polls next year.
Entsch said he hoped the timetable for the consideration of marriage equality could be accelerated now that Malcolm Turnbull had taken the Liberal party leadership.
“Labor has made a pledge to implement same-sex marriage within 100 days, and I reckon we should be doing it within 100 days too,” Entsch said.
“I would like to believe, and I think we can do it, that we have the question finalised and the timetable known prior to the next election,” he said. “I will be working with him [Turnbull] on that.”
Turnbull has made it clear he will stick with the previously agreed timetable for resolving marriage equality despite criticising the plebiscite strategy before assuming the Liberal leadership last week.
Sticking with the Abbott commitment to hold the plebiscite after the next federal election was part of Turnbull’s new coalition agreement with the National party last week.
Turnbull disappointed marriage equality advocates by making it clear he would abide by the party room position, not move to hold the plebiscite at the same time as the federal election.
Marriage equality remains a point of acute sensitivity between liberals and conservatives within the government, and Entsch’s pointed call for an expeditious process will not go down well in conservative ranks.
Entsch said he would have preferred the issue to be resolved by the parliament, not through a plebiscite, and he said Turnbull had the same view. “Our new prime minister shares the same vision I do. Like me he would have preferred this to go through the parliament,” he said.
But Entsch said it was clear to him from feedback in his electorate that the voters wanted a direct say on the issue.
He also said the change of leadership meant an end to “captain’s picks” and a return to cabinet government and party room consensus – so it was important to stick to the broad parameters of the plebiscite plan.
But Entsch pointed out that previous agreements worked through under Tony Abbott’s leadership did not extend to the exact timing of a plebiscite, or to the wording of the question, giving the new prime minister scope to speed up the process and make sure it was resolved sooner rather than later.
He said given some of the tactics that had been deployed under the previous prime minister – specifically putting marriage equality to a joint party room discussion rather than to a discussion by the Liberal party room alone – it was important to give voters confidence in the process, particularly on the wording of the question and the timing of the plebiscite.
Entsch said people could be confident that Turnbull would make sure the wording was appropriate and would support the change, giving the reform its best prospect of success.
He said New Zealand and Ireland had managed to achieve “progressive and compassionate” change without a backlash.
“Everything is the same in those countries except people now feel good about themselves and the decision they made,” he said. “The sooner we can do it, the sooner we can feel better about ourselves.”
