GAY marriage could be made legal in Australia as early as next week, a senior government minister says.
The historic bill is expected to pass the upper house as early as this morning after a series of conservative amendments were voted down last night.
Lower house MPs will then debate the bill on Monday.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham said this morning he expected lengthy debate and possibly some amendments when the bill went before the House of Representatives.
“But I believe quite possibly, by the end of next week, before Christmas, we will see same-sex marriage legalised in Australia,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has come under fire from Coalition backbenchers today however who have criticised his leadership over the same-sex marriage legislation.
Nationals MP Andrew Broad — who opposes same-sex marriage but will respect the “yes” view of his Victorian electorate — said Mr Turnbull should have hosted a meeting between the moderate MPs who drafted the bill and conservatives such as Eric Abetz and Andrew Hastie to come up with a piece of Coalition legislation.
“I think, in my view, there’s been a complete lack of leadership,” Mr Broad told ABC radio.
“All assurances both by the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader that religious freedoms would be protected, that they believed in those, seemed to be walked away from in what I think is a rather sneaky way,” he said.
Minister Birmingham rejected the criticism today while condemning those MPs trying to derail the bill.
He said Mr Turnbull had showed strong leadership by rejecting any attempts to delay the bill passing before Christmas.
“Let’s be very clear about this, there are strong religious protections in the bill passing through the Parliament as it is,” Senator Birmingham said.
“People will still be able to turn up to their place of worship as they choose once same-sex marriage is legislated.
“They’ll be able to believe in whatever God they want to believe in.
“Their church, synagogue or mosque will be able to turn away same-sex marriage couples.
“Their minister will be able to say, ‘I don’t want anything to do with your marriage’.
“These are strong protections.”
Three more amendments — put forward separately by the Greens, One Nation, and crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm — will be considered in the senate today.
It’s expected they will be dealt with before Question Time.
One Nation’s amendments cover marriage celebrants, as do Senator Leyonhjelm’s.
He also wants to give businesses the right to refuse to service same-sex weddings.
The Greens amendments, set to be opposed by Labor, include a provision to ensure state and territory anti-discrimination laws will be limited, as well as make it harder for civil celebrants to refuse to marry same-sex couples.
On Tuesday, the upper house blocked a move to create two definitions of marriage — one between a man and a woman and the other as between two people.
That was included in one of five amendments proposed by conservative Liberal senators James Paterson and David Fawcett, which were comfortably defeated.
Other measures they proposed sought to:
* Allow parents to pull their children from classes if they don’t agree with their teachings on marriage
* Protect “relevant beliefs” around marriage
* Prevent governments and agencies from taking action against people with a traditional view of marriage.
* Allow chaplains and authorised officers in the defence force to refuse to marry same-sex couples.
Senators Paterson and Fawcett also tried to ensure charities retain their existing tax and government funding status even if they oppose same-sex marriage.
But the bill’s author, Liberal Senator Dean Smith, tabled advice from the Australian Taxation Office and charities commissioner which said those fears were baseless.
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