Q&A: Pyne plays down reports of Coalition divisions

Christopher Pyne has downplayed reports of Coalition divisions as a recording of his comments on gay marriage is released.

Christopher Pyne: “People are allowed to have different views”.

Senior Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne has downplayed reports of internal divisions within the Coalition and declared leaked audio of his controversial speech to the left faction of the Liberal party has unnecessarily “excited the press”.

“I spoke to a group of supporters of marriage equality on Friday night, and told them what I’ve said many times before in the media, which is to have hope that there will be marriage equality in Australia, that it will come eventually,” he told the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night.

“The only thing that’s made that statement remarkable is that there’s apparently a ‘secret leaked tape’ which has excited the press and turned it into a sensational story.

“But actually, obviously I support the (government’s) policy. I want there to be a vote of the people so that they are part of that outcome. ”

Will the leak of Pyne's conversation advance the case for same-sex marriage, or hinder it? @cpyne responds #QandA pic.twitter.com/mRBMForPzG

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 26, 2017

A damaging split in the Liberal Party re-emerged on Monday after leaked audio revealed Mr Pyne told colleagues at a federal council after-party that gay marriage would happen “sooner than everyone thinks”.

Sky News host Andrew Bolt aired the full audio of Mr Pyne speaking to the factional meeting at Sydney’s Star Casino, where the Minister for the Defence Industry can be heard telling the crowd the fortunes of the Left faction have “waxed and waned” but they were now a strong influence in the government.

Listen to the audio of Christopher Pyne talking about gay marriage below.

On Monday night, Mr Pyne denied internal party turmoil and said differing opinions do not represent disunity.

“Obviously there are issues about which we don’t agree ... That doesn’t mean the government is in crisis if we have different views,” he said.

“People are allowed to have different views. I support the party’s policy on marriage equality, and I’m in favour of marriage equality if I had a vote at the plebiscite. Other people don’t share those views in the Liberal Party, or the National Party, for that matter. That doesn’t mean the party doesn’t get along perfectly well in delivering things.”

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He said he had been friends with Tony Abbott for a quarter of a century and would like to think they were still friends, even after the former Prime Minister slammed him as disloyal on 2GB radio.

“My vote for Malcolm Turnbull, over my whole career, is not a secret. But obviously when Tony Abbott was the leader, I got up every morning … to work out how we could get rid of the Rudd/Gillard Government — and we did. And that was for Tony Abbott. But more than Tony Abbott, it was for the Australian people, because I believe we were getting rid of a bad government and putting in a better one with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.”

“I, along with Peta Credlin, Andrew Hirst, Mark Textor, Julie Bishop, a couple of other people, were absolutely central to him becoming prime minister and defeating the Labor Party in 2013, and almost defeating them in 2010,” he said.

“So nobody could ever question my determination to see a coalition government in power.”

Later in the program, after he said he was a republican, Tony Blair’s former press secretary Alastair Campbell quipped: “This guy should be in the Labor Party!”

“That’s what other people are saying,” replied Mr Pyne. “It’s not true. I’ve been with the Liberal Party since I was 17 ... just for the record.”

.@campbellclaret says don't have a referendum about anything. @Anna_Greenberg says the sky has not fallen so it's weird argument #QandA pic.twitter.com/Sfm1Zd5kxX

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 26, 2017

Mr Pyne’s appearance on the show came hours after former Liberal MP Cory Bernardi told Sky News the frontbencher was the “most untrustworthy person” he’s ever met in politics, followed by Peta Credlin declaring Mr Pyne seemed “proud of his disloyalty” and was “never to be trusted”.

Labor MP Clare O’Neil told Q&A she was excited to hear that a cabinet minister wanted immediate action on same-sex marriage, though she believed the story was distracting from more important issues.

“I think it’s been a bit of a challenging 12 hours for the kind of factional warfare in the Liberal Party but, to be totally honest with you, it doesn’t interest me at all ... I don’t want it to get lost that there’s a really important subject at the heart of Christopher’s comments — that is whether people who identify as LGBTQI in this country are equal before the law.

“I think marriage equality, for a lot of Australians, has become emblematic of the inability of people in Canberra to deal with national issues.”

She denied Labor was playing political games by wedging the government and forcing a split in the Liberal party by voting against the plebiscite.

.@ClareONeilMP says SSM is what the majority want. @GrahameMorris2 says the Coalition is a broad church & @cpyne has his own pew #QandA pic.twitter.com/SNCNKiXPDv

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 26, 2017

John Howard’s former chief of staff Grahame Morris said: “The Liberal Party and the Coalition is a very broad church, and Christopher has his own pew.”

“Where he got into trouble today was the suggestion that the vote would be brought forward,” he said.

“It’s not going to be brought forward. We are long way away from having this vote, despite what Clare just said. Long way. You cannot have this vote until you sort out who is exempt. Are we going to force the churches to have these marriages? Are we going to force the people who make the wedding cakes — can they opt out? What about somebody who runs a church hall in a country area? Can they opt out? There are a lot of questions to go.”