Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made a spirited defence of his doomed same-sex marriage plebiscite as he introduced the bill to Parliament on Wednesday, saying "society would be stronger if more people were married".

At his most animated when berating Labor for its opposition to the public vote, Mr Turnbull argued a plebiscite was the best way to decide a matter on which Australians had such deeply-held personal convictions.

"We have to respect that it is a very big moral issue. It is an issue of conscience for millions of Australians," he said. "If ever there is an issue to be put to a plebiscite, this is one that can and should be, because it is a very straightforward question."

A year to the day since he toppled Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister argued that social attitudes to same-sex couples had changed rapidly in recent years and reiterated his personal support for gay marriage.</s>The son of two mothers, Eddie Blewett has turned to Malcolm Turnbull and demanded the Prime Minister 'do his job' ahead of a possible same-sex marriage plebiscite.

The 13-year-old faced relentless teasing over his parent's same-sex relationship, until he was moved to a new high school, but his mums Neroli Dickson and Claire Blewett fear a plebiscite campaign will ignite further bullying for even more children.

'It has given people permission to say things in the playground - to pass on what they've heard at the dinner table,' Ms Dickson told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The family traveled to Canberra on Tuesday with LGBTQI support group Rainbow Families, where Eddie's story was represented in Question Time by Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek.

Eddie and his mums watched from the public gallery as Ms Plibersek questioned Malcolm Turnbull why a 13-year-old boy should 'have to put up with a $7.5 million campaign by people who have never met him, telling him that there is something wrong with his family'?

She quoted Eddie who said: 'Why should people who barely know us make an assumption on our families and vote on how we can live?'

In response, Mr Turnbull said that while he welcomed Eddie to Question Time at the House of Representatives, he accused his presence as a political point being made by Ms Plibersek, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

'Eddie will understand that everything we do here in this Parliament is designed to ensure that Australia becomes an even better place for him to grow up in and realise his dreams,' Turnbull said.

'What [Plibersek] has said is that people who do not know Eddie are not entitled to express a view on the Marriage Act. That's what she is saying.'

The Australian Prime Minister added that the country has nothing to fear from the plebiscite, because the debate will be 'respectful' and 'civil'.

'He has no idea how uncivil a playground can be.'

Eddie was also unhappy with Mr Turnbull's response and wrote him a letter after Question Time.

'That really upset me,' he wrote.

'Please do your job.

'We want same-sex marriage without hearing in the playground that I am not normal.'

A date for the same-sex marriage plebiscite has been proposed for February 11, 2017.

The Coalition has to convince nine senators to support legislation in order for the plebiscite to go through.

But Labor leader Bill Shorten has threatened to block the bill, cautioning the impact the vote could have on vulnerable children.</s>PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has presented the legislation to parliament which would allow a public vote to go ahead on February 11 next year asking the Australian public if they approve of the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

When introducing the bill to parliament today he said it was “parliament committed to marriage”.

“And that is why I support same-sex marriage… that is where I stand and that is where Lucy (Turnbull) stands and when the plebiscite is held we will be voting yes.”

Turnbull said the main argument against a plebiscite was that people were worried about the hurtful debate that might arise from the campaigning in the lead-up to the vote.

“That insults the Australian people, that disrespects the Australian people. If ever there is an issue to be put forward to a plebiscite, it’s this one and should be because it’s a very straight forward question,” he said.

“I ask the leader of the opposition to support this plebiscite… I ask Labor to respect the people they represent… to respect their ability to have a discussion about this important matter and resolve it and resolve it in a manner that is fair, that is democratic and will at the end of the day whoever wins be regarded as a just determination of this important issue.”

However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is expected to recommend to the Labor shadow cabinet and caucus that it block the plebiscite-enabling legislation.

“The fact the Liberals announced public funding to give a platform to bigotry shows no interest from the government to work with Labor on this,” he said.

“He is deliberately sabotaging the process to make it difficult for even the most ardent supporters of marriage equality to back it.

“History will record Malcolm Turnbull as a fraud on marriage equality, the man who had the opportunity to make it happen but cowered in the face of Tony Abbott, Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz, the Prime Minister who broke the nation’s heart.

“I am gravely concerned about the plebiscite and over the coming days and weeks, we will be sitting down with people affected, families and mental health experts about the harm a plebiscite will cause. He has no idea of the harm this could inflict on so many people and their families.”

The PM also confirmed $170 million dollars in funding for the plebiscite, $160 million which will go to holding the vote and $7.5 million each for the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigners.

The ballot for the vote was revealed and confirmed the question will be with people having to write yes or no beside the question.</s>(CNN) The chances of Australians having their say on same-sex marriage are fading rapidly after strong hints from the main opposition party that it'll block the vote.

The country's conservative Liberal government had planned to hold a national plebiscite, similar to a referendum, on whether or not to allow gay couples to marry in February 2017.

But the opposition Labor Party said the government should simply make same sex marriage legal without a national vote, avoiding a vicious debate over LGBT rights and savings millions of dollars in election funding.

Australia is one of the last Western countries without legal same sex marriage, which has already been introduced in the United States, New Zealand, France, Canada and the United Kingdom.

About 57% of Australians support same sex marriage, according to a recent Essential polling survey

"This will be the 22nd marriage equality bill in Australia and we still haven't got (LGBT) marriage and at a certain point we have to think, what are we doing wrong here?" Australian Marriage Equality director Tiernan Brady told CNN.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull brought the legislation before Parliament for the first time on Wednesday after months of negotiation.

Australian National University School of Politics professor John Warhurst said it was now very likely the national vote would not happen, and no other moves on gay marriage may be made for years.

"I think there's a high likelihood that the issue will not be proceeded with for at least two and a half years, and it's not clear even beyond the next election (2019) exactly what the dynamic will be," he said.

Warhurst said the plebiscite had originally been the policy of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, as a way to defer the introduction of same sex marriage, and when he became leader Turnbull had been forced to keep it by his party's conservatives.

Both Turnbull and Shorten are publicly in favor of marriage equality.

A major criticism of the Australian government's plebiscite plan has been it would inflict several months of aggressively negative campaigning on LGBT people.

"No matter how positive or inclusive (our campaign) is there are still the voices on the 'no' side who will inflict terrible damage with their words," Brady said.

"The idea that any group of people would have their relationships measured and discussed and have people talk about whether they have a value at all to society -- there's no way anyone could conceive that wouldn't be a difficult journey."

Brady said even if the plebiscite failed, LGBT rights group would not be content to wait years for marriage equality and would attempt to pass it in this parliament.</s>Australians could vote next year on whether the country should allow gay marriage – but politicians will have the final say.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced legislation on Parliament yesterday on the first anniversary of him getting the job.

He replaced Tony Abbott, who proposed that the public decide the issue with a popular vote and avoid a bitter debate in Parliament.

Mr Turnbull wants the compulsory vote to be on 11 February, but it will be non-binding and Parliament would ultimately decide whether the law would be changed.

He told Parliament that the reason marriage equality advocates opposed the vote was because they thought enough politicians already supported the reform for it to become law.

“They don’t want to run the risk of the Australian people giving them the wrong answer,” Mr Turnbull said.

“For our part, we put our faith in the Australian people and we know that their answer, whether it is ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ will be the right answer.”

Most gay rights activists are against a vote, saying it should be decided in Parliament without the potential divisive public debate.

They fear that government plans to spend 15 million Australian dollars (£8.3 million) on publicising the cases for and against marriage equality would give legitimacy to bigoted and homophobic views.

Mr Turnbull is a marriage equality advocate who is the only serving prime minister to attend Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

His government does not have a majority in the Senate, and two minor parties that back same-sex marriage have said they will not support the public vote. The government’s only chance of a plebiscite is now the opposition Labor Party.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has argued that a public vote would “give the haters a chance to come out from underneath the rock and make life harder for” lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

But Mr Shorten, who backs marriage equality, has not ruled out supporting the plebiscite to avoid a stalemate in Parliament over the issue that could last until the next election in 2019.

Attorney-general George Brandis, who supports same-sex marriage, accused Mr Shorten of jeopardising the reform to score political points against Mr Turnbull. “I’m sorry to say, so far Mr Shorten has been putting political game playing ahead of the merits of the issue,” he said.</s>CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s prime minister introduced legislation to Parliament on Wednesday that would allow a public but nonbinding vote on gay marriage early next year.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a marriage equality advocate who is the only serving prime minister to attend Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, introduced the bill on the first anniversary of his ascension to the top government job.

He replaced Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a gay-marriage opponent who proposed that the public decide the issue with a popular vote and avoid a bitter debate in Parliament.

But the Feb. 11 plebiscite — a compulsory vote for all adult Australians — would have no legal weight. Parliament would ultimately decide whether the law would be changed.

Although such a vote appears to be a move toward changing the law, most gayrights activists are against a plebiscite, saying it should be decided in Parliament without the potential divisive public debate.

They fear that government plans to spend $11 million on publicizing the cases for and against marriage equality would give legitimacy to anti-gay views.

Turnbull said the real reason marriage equality advocates opposed the plebiscite was because they thought enough lawmakers already supported the overhaul for it to become law.

“They don’t want to run the risk of the Australian people giving them the wrong answer,” Turnbull told Parliament.</s>Malcolm Turnbull will mark his first anniversary as Prime Minister by introducing the bill for a same-sex marriage plebiscite.

But the only way that legislation can pass is with Labor’s backing and Bill Shorten is increasingly strident in his opposition to it.

The Opposition leader told Parliament that in the lead up to the leadership change a year ago Mr Turnbull said he believed a free vote in Parliament was the best way to go.

“Why are we led by a man who will, when knowing the best option, recommend to Australians a second best option? That is moral cowardice,” Mr Shorten said.

For Tony Abbott, it is a year today since he lost the prime ministership.

“I really don’t want to go over the entrails of the events a year ago,” Mr Abbott told Sky News.

“Of course they were disappointing. Of course I think it should not have happened.

“But it did happen, and as many people say and rightly so, we have got to look at the world as it is rather than the world as we would like it to be or as maybe even it should be.”

Mr Shorten is using the anniversary to critique Mr Turnbull’s performance.

“This Prime Minister is the great national disappointment. From Messiah to mediocrity; from agile to fragile,” he said.

But Treasurer Scott Morrison is pleased the Government has notched up a win by forcing Labor to agree to vote for $6 billion of savings.

He is critical of the Opposition for not being prepared to go further.

“They are largely tapped out on the issue of things they are prepared to do on savings — one thing they are very enthusiastic about doing is actually lifting taxes,” Mr Morrison said.

He told Sky News he will keep trying to negotiate with the Senate crossbench to try and pass some of the measures Labor remains opposed to, like removing the energy supplement from pensioners.

“We got rid of the carbon tax so going forward we are not going to give you the compensation for a tax that doesn’t exist,” Mr Morrison said.

“Now we are not walking away from that measure just because the Labor Party chose not to support that … we do support it and we want to see that passed and so we will now obviously go and deal with the crossbenchers in the Senate.”

But that will be challenging after the double dissolution election Mr Turnbull decided on earlier this year.

The Senate has more crossbenchers and new members like One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, who gave his first speech yesterday calling for Australia to leave the United Nations.</s>It has been one year since Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took over as the leader of the nation and Labor MP Ed Husic decided to cheekily acknowledge his achievement by giving 'back'.

The Labor frontbencher arrived at Parliament on Wednesday with a replica model of a human backbone, suggesting that to mark the PM's first year anniversary he needs to grow a spine and confront ministers in his own ranks.

'I was just trying to be helpful. For the man who thinks he has everything, we gave him the thing he needs most,' Mr Husic told Sky News this morning.

Liberal MP Andrew Laming who witnessed the prank joked, 'you've got a nerve mate'.

Mr Husic even referred to Mr Turnbull as a PM spokesman, calling him the C.J Cregg of Australian politics who was the president's spokeswoman in the US TV series West Wing.

The pre-meditated stunt was aimed at Mr Turnbull's perceived lack of hardline decisions lately with the tactic of shining the spotlight on the same-sex marriage plebiscite or imposing a carbon price.

Mr Husic has openly spoken about making same-sex marriage legal with a conscience vote within parliament rather than a $160m plebiscite.

"I think there are a number of us, and I certainly am of the view that we should get on with the vote, make the decision, do what the Parliament is supposed to and provide for marriage equality," Mr Husic told the ABC.

PM Malcolm Turnbull will be looking to introduce the same-sex marriage plebiscite to mark his first year anniversary as Prime Minster, but opposition leader Bill Shorten is expected to block the legislation.</s>The country's conservative Liberal government had planned to hold a national plebiscite, similar to a referendum, on whether or not to allow gay couples to marry in February 2017.

But the opposition Labor Party said the government should simply make same sex marriage legal without a national vote, avoiding a vicious debate over LGBT rights and savings millions of dollars in election funding.

Australia is one of the last Western countries without legal same sex marriage, which has already been introduced in the United States, New Zealand, France, Canada and the United Kingdom.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS - The chances of Australians having their say on same-sex marriage are fading rapidly after strong hints from the main opposition party that it'll block the vote.
Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull plans to introduce a plebiscite on the legality of same-sex marriage in the country.