Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt has publicly backed a plan by two Liberal backbenchers to hold a conscience vote on marriage equality, which goes against the party’s line that only a plebiscite will move the controversial issue forward.

Fairfax Media reports WA Liberal senator Dean Smith and NSW Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman have been secretly drafting a private members’ bill for the conscience vote that they hope to present to Parliament.

Debate has flared on marriage equality again after audio leaked of Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne saying marriage equality could happen “sooner than everyone thinks”.

“I think we need to allow people within the Parliament who have strong views to reflect the option of voting according to their conscience,” Mr Wyatt told the ABC this morning.

The Minister said he would personally vote in accordance with the views of his WA electorate of Hasluck, which covers the eastern suburbs of Perth, to not allow same-sex marriage.

“I still go back to the fact that, for me, it is about the representation that has been made to me within my electorate that I will take forward,” he said.

Prime Minister Turnbull has ruled out allowing the private member’s bill to come to a vote.

Mr Turnbull told radio station 3AW this morning the party would stick to its policy of holding a plebiscite before any vote in Parliament on marriage equality.

But he left the door open to changing the policy before the next election.

“The next election is two years away,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We will examine our policies in the lead-up to the next election.

“But we made a commitment at the last election that we would have a plebiscite.”

Labor and the Greens have been pushing for a conscience vote after voting to block a plebiscite on marriage equality in November.

Fairfax reports it would take only a handful of Liberal MPs to side with the ALP and cross bench in the lower house to reach an absolute majority of 76 votes and force the draft conscience vote bill to be considered.

http://www.news.com.au/national/liberal-mps-secretly-drafting-private-members-bill-to-legalise-samesex-marriage/news-story/65317e5d4bf7f0dd0e040adb3013cc07

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