Coalition partyroom savages moderate MPs’ same-sex marriage push

A bid by moderate MPs to challenge government policy on a same-sex marriage plebiscite was shot down in the partyroom.

An apparent bid by moderate Liberal MPs to challenge the government’s policy on a same-sex marriage plebiscite in favour of a free vote in parliament has been shot down in the Coalition ­partyroom.

Conservative South Australian MP Tony Pasin yesterday slammed colleagues reported to be planning to revisit the issue, ­accusing them of trying to destroy the government.

A partyroom source said Mr Pasin rose to speak to the meeting, claiming it was not a first-order issue and not a single constituent had raised same-sex marriage with him since the government settled on a plebiscite last year.

He then accused those behind the push of undermining the government and derailing the political agenda for the start of the year.

“He said: ‘If you want to destroy Malcolm Turnbull then you are doing a good job,’” the partyroom source said.

Mr Pasin’s intervention follows Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce’s spray during a meeting of the entire frontbench on Monday, calling for them to stop talking about it.

Newly elected Victorian MP Tim Wilson, named as among those leading the charge, has said he had honoured a commitment to vote for the plebiscite in accordance with party policy when it was introduced and defeated late last year. This, he suggested, had freed him from his obligations and now allowed him to push for a free vote.

Other MPs named as behind the push included West Australian MPs Dean Smith and Melissa Price, NSW MP Trent Zimmerman, also a first-term member, and Queensland MPs Warren Entsch and Trevor Price.

One of those named MPs said reports had been overblown and there had been no intention to move on the issue, other than to say it would undoubtedly come up again when a Senate committee reports.

A senior conservative MP said the irony of the situation was that the Prime Minister was now being undermined by his own moderate support base.

Mr Turnbull was said to have been caught by surprise when it was revealed last week that a group of newly elected moderate MPs were pushing for the policy to be revisited, and had threatened to bring it to the partyroom within two weeks. They did not raise it in yesterday’s partyroom meeting.

Mr Turnbull has said even if it were raised again in the partyroom, the policy position it took to the election would not change.