Angus Taylor, Michael Sukkar and Zed Seselja accuse colleagues of betrayal

The internal feud in the Coalition intensified as conservative MPs held a phone hook-up over the same-sex marriage bill.

A man holds a rainbow flag during a march in support of marriage equality

Three Turnbull government ­assistant ministers have accused moderate colleagues of betraying Coalition voters over the same-sex marriage plebiscite by trading away promised protections for a deal with the Greens and Labor.

With the internal feud in the Coalition escalating over senator Dean Smith’s same-sex marriage bill, conservative MPs last night held a phone hook-up to sign off on protection amendments for parental rights and anti-detriment laws which would be introduced as early as tomorrow.

Senator Smith’s bill will likely pass the Senate this week. In a final bid to convince Senate colleagues not to support the Smith bill without additional protections, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister on Cities, Angus Taylor, joined a chorus of conservative MPs and senators warning that a promise was made to Coalition voters that free speech and religious protections would be guaranteed.

“Dean Smith, Tim Wilson and others have argued that this change is best done by a Coalition government, because we can be relied on to protect freedoms,” Mr Taylor told The Australian.

“It’s now the job of Coalition members to live up to that promise. I for one will support protections for free speech, parental choice for their kids’ education and freedom of religion. I hope others will do the same.”

Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs Zed Seselja said that fellow senators who voted with Labor and the Greens in favour of the Smith bill as it stood would be betraying ­Coalition voters who were assured that a Yes vote under the Coalition would ensure adequate protections.

“A failure to support substantial amendments to the Smith bill will be a betrayal of Coalition Yes and No voters,” Senator Seselja said.

“Dean Smith and Tim Wilson and others assured Coalition voters that getting same sex-marriage with a Coalition government would deliver much stronger protections, yet the Smith bill has been embraced by the Greens.

“We owe it to our supporters who voted both Yes and No to ­ensure that we deliver much stronger protections than a Green/Labor bill would.”

Senator Smith last night ­responded to his conservative colleagues, saying his bill was well publicised before the postal survey commenced and the overwhelming Yes vote suggested people were comfortable with it.

“An equally valid interpretation of the result is to conclude Yes voters were not only ready to embrace marriage equality but are also satisfied protections for ­religious views in Australia’s legal architecture are already sufficient,” Senator Smith said.

“For months the opponents of marriage equality have argued the case for broader religious freedoms but have failed to substantiate their claims with clear evidence existing religious freedoms in Australia’s various laws are insufficient.

“A more constructive approach would be to embrace the expert panel review as the best mechanism for a comprehensive and calm discussion of freedom of religion in Australia.

“It is worth pondering, if the ­result was 61.6 per cent No and 38.4 Yes how the No campaign would be seeking to accommodate the views of those voters who voted Yes.”

But prominent campaigner for religious protections, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, said that Greens and Labor support for the bill should be “terribly concerning” for the Liberal Party.

“While a majority of Coalition supporters voted No, those who did vote Yes were reassured by ­Coalition Yes campaigners who promised wide-ranging protections,” Mr Sukkar said.

“Coalition Yes campaigners also claimed that it was more desirable for a Coalition government to legalise same-sex marriage, as freedom of speech, conscience and religion would be more greatly protected than a Labor government in the future would provide.

“That the Greens are on a unity ticket with Senator Smith on this bill is all the evidence we need to know that this bill is deeply flawed and the antithesis to Liberal values. Sadly, the Smith bill doesn’t provide any further protections than the Labor Party, who have also embraced this bill.”

Scott Morrison, the most senior cabinet minister opposed to the Smith bill, told The Australian that it would be Labor MPs who were at risk of betraying their voters if they did not support amendments.

“I want a bill that represents 100 per cent of Australians, not just 61 per cent, which means supporting religious freedoms that are not currently contained in the bill,” the Treasurer said.

“There are plenty of Liberals who are speaking out in favour of protections but Labor has been deathly silent on freedoms, despite the fact that of the top 10 seats that voted against the change to the Marriage Act, nine were in Labor electorates. Labor’s leader of ­opposition business, whose seat is one of those, has been uncharacteristically shy.”

Liberal WA MP and member for Canning Andrew Hastie, an outspoken campaigner for a No vote, accused Senator Smith and others of entering into a “Faustian pact with the Greens and Labor to see the passage of the Smith bill”.

“The question is: what was given up by our side to earn the blessing of Labor and the Greens?” Mr Hastie said. “If Coalition amendments to protect freedom of conscience, religion and parental rights fail this week in the Senate, it will be clear that they have traded away commitments to ­Coalition supporters.”