And they have a point.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that his government “have a very good and fair way forward” on the issue, and that voters would get a chance to vote on legalising gay marriage if they re-elect his government next year.

But critics say this is yet another stalling tactic in a hopelessly distended debate that for many people is already over.

Actor Anthony LaPaglia, on the publicity trail for the new gay-themed movie Holding The Man, is but the latest in a long line of notables to point out how far behind other comparable countries

Australia has become on the issue.

“If the United States beats Australia to making gay marriage legal, you’re in trouble,” he said.

“It says a lot about the current administration here. It just shocks me that we are culturally behind like that,” LaPaglia said.

So how far behind is Australia, exactly?

Various jurisdictions in Europe and the United States began formulating laws that formally recognised same-sex-relationships in the late 1990s, but it was not until 2000 when The Netherlands became the first country to adopt a same-sex marriage bill.

The dominoes have been falling ever since: first in Scandinavia, and then throughout Europe and the United States, and into other places as well, including Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand.

In the space of those 15 years, same-sex marriage has made inroads into the Australian public consciousness, but legislative progress has been stymied by a succession of Prime Ministers — including, most surprisingly, Julia Gillard — who have fought against it.

Australia’s wake-up call came in May this year, when Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting same-sex marriage in a national referendum.

The result — 62 per cent of voters supported the change compared to 38 per cent who voted against it — left Australia as the only developed nation in the Anglosphere nation without marriage equality, advocates said.

“If traditionally-conservative Catholic Ireland can endorse marriage equality, Australia’s political leaders have no more excuses for dragging the chain,” Rodney Croome from Australian Marriage Equality said at the time.

“Ireland’s vote for marriage equality is a win for Australia because it will increase momentum for marriage equality here.”

“It will inspire marriage equality supporters to work harder for reform, push more politicians to support it, and quash the myth that Catholics and other people of faith oppose marriage equality.”

“Ireland’s nationwide, cross-party support for marriage equality will send a message to the Australian Government that it must allow a free vote or risk isolating Australia yet more from the countries we are closest to.”

After the Irish referendum, government MPs Eric Abetz and Barnaby Joyce pointed to Asia, saying that adopting gay marriage would put Australia out of step with its main trading partners.

Mr Joyce memorably said that Asian countries would view Australia as “decadent” if it introduced same-sex marriage.

But even in Asia there are moves towards gay marriage, with judicial authorities in Taiwan last month drafting a same-sex partnership law for the reference of the parliament.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been a resolute opponent of same-sex marriage, despite lobbying coming from a source that is uniquely close to home. Mr Abbott’s sister Christine Forster, who is a member of Sydney City Council and in a same-sex relationship, has been a trenchant critic of his views.

The Coalition decision to deny a conscience vote to its MPs on any gay marriage bill before parliament would seem to put the nail in the coffin for any hopes of such a law being passed under this government.

But the issue is clearly not going away; Mr Abbott has flagged the possibility of a referendum or a plebiscite in order to deal with the issue.

“There is the prospect of change in the next parliament if that is the will of the Australian people,” Mr Abbott said.

The Prime Minister said it was only the current generation that had thought of gay marriage so “why not give it to the people?”

“I’m not saying that the Coalition’s position is set in stone for all time,” Mr Abbott told reporters.

“We don’t want to say it can’t ever be changed, and that this position in the party room today, that if there is a big change on the matter … it is something that will properly be decided by the people rather than voted on by Parliament.”