Tony Abbott forcing his views on Australia, says Bill Shorten

“So no constitutional referendum is necessary in this case”, he said.

The fraught issue is set to be canvassed at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Malcolm Turnbull is cementing his lead over Tony Abbott as the most popular choice as Liberal leader and prime minister across all major voter groups, according to new polling which also shows the Coalition is facing a 36-seat electoral wipeout. Only 25% – unchanged – opposed it.

And by doing all of the above, he’s just about guaranteed that gay marriage will be one of the defining issues of the next federal election, exposing his MPs to activists’ campaigns and potentially depriving the government of clear air to talk about other pressing national issues: jobs, infrastructure, the economy.

The Brisbane-based MP had promised to follow the wishes of his electorate, in the event the Liberal Party granted a conscience vote on the issue. “If there were a public vote, it clearly would be a plebiscite”.

Ministers are resisting the way forward being allowed to be a “captain’s call”.

Black also referenced the Prime Minister when asked if there would be a possible sequel to “School of Rock”. “We cannot trust Tony Abbott not to delay further, propose an unfair question, or turn it into an unnecessary referendum with little chance of passing”.

Brandis suggested Morrison seemed to be unaware of a key High Court judgement.

“But if a plebiscite is the only option on the table, it must happen at this election and the parliament must choose the question“.

He said there was a variety of views about when a plebiscite should be held, and he had not resolved his own opinion.

Implicit in the subsequent discussion has been the idea that, once again, the US has been asking us behind closed doors to join the bombing raids in Syria.

“But I do expect that this is a decision the government should make very soon”, he told Sky News on Sunday.

It was a timely message given the Prime Minister’s recent woes. “The party room has not debated the matter nor indeed has the cabinet”.

However, we believe that in a democracy people should be permitted to put opposing views.

“I personally think [Abbott] is living in the stone ages if he’s not seeing the writing on the wall”, Black said. Asked to rate their performances, Mr Abbott lost one point with a disapproval rating of 59 per cent and an approval rating of 35 for a net rating of minus 24 per cent.

IT was a boisterous week in parliament, Attorney-General George Brandis agrees, but he insists it’s “nonsense” to say the Federal Government is in disarray.

“However this target means Australia is at least on the boat with global climate action, even if considered a laggard”, he said.

Hinton-Teoh said a groundswell within the Coalition was forming but the likelihood of marriage equality passing in this term was low.