Only one shot at same-sex marriage, says Peter Dutton

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says the government must resist future attempts to change the law if the No vote prevails.

Malcolm Turnbull has backed comments by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton that the government must resist future attempts to change marriage laws if a majority of voters oppose same-sex marriage in the postal survey.

The Prime Minister said yesterday his government would not try to change the law if Australians voted No and would not propose such a policy at the next election.

Mr Dutton said a No vote should signal “that this matter is at an end for the Liberal Party”.

Mr Turnbull said he “absolutely” agreed with the senior conservative minister. “If the people have spoken against it, we won’t be proposing it at the election, I can assure you,” he said on 4BC radio.

“If there is a Yes vote then we’ll facilitate a private member’s bill to legalise same-sex marriage. If there’s a No vote, we won’t. That’s it, very straightforward.”

Mr Turnbull said there were two bills that had set out religious protections in the event of a Yes vote: an exposure draft released by Attorney-General George Brandis last year before the government’s compulsory plebiscite was rejected by the Senate, and a private senator’s bill championed by Liberal Dean Smith.

“The protection of religious freedoms is set out in that exposure draft. They’re all set out there. People will have different views,” he said. “It is a matter for parliament then to legislate.”

Mr Dutton also defended the government decision not to endorse the details of a bill to legalise same-sex marriage unless a Yes vote were returned, rejecting ­advice from John Howard to produce the legislation before to the close of the postal survey.

“I have nothing but respect for John Howard, he told Sky News, “(but) the decision cabinet’s taken is the bill will be drafted as a private member’s bill after the vote, if there is a Yes vote. If the No vote is successful … this matter is at an end for the Liberal Party.”

Independent South Australian senator Lucy Gichuhi has backed the No campaign, saying legalising same-sex marriage would do nothing to “solve the disillusionment of our youth or disintegration of the family.”

The Kenyan-born crossbench MP issued a statement last night telling her constituents it was “OK to vote No … Removing the words ‘a man and a woman’ from the Marriage Act will not ultimately solve the disillusionment of our youth or disintegration of the family. We must arrest any further cultural shifts and strengthen what has brought us this far.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott said yesterday he had no qualms about his daughter, Frances, posting a picture on her Instagram account last week wearing a “Vote Yes” T-shirt.

“I am proud of the fact she is an independent woman, who has her own thoughts and who does her own thing,” he told 2GB radio. “I respectfully disagree with her on this issue, but I am certainly very proud of her.”