Same-sex marriage question settled for some time, says Kevin Andrews

Opposition families spokesman Kevin Andrews says a conscience vote in the gay-marriage debate would have made no difference to the outcome Source: News Limited

BILLS to legalise same-sex marriage would have been defeated even if the Coalition had given its MPs a conscience vote, the Opposition families spokesman told a Christian conference.

-->Addressing the Australian Christian Lobby's national conference in Canberra today, Liberal frontbencher Kevin Andrews said that the battle to protect marriage in the federal parliament “was conclusively won''. He said most MPs would now take the view that the matter was settled for some period of time.

“The battle will now move to the states,'' he said, adding that he believed state governments did not have the constitutional power to make changes to marriage laws.

He said there would likely be High Court challenges against any state legalisation of gay marriage.

It would be an “extremely adventurous High Court'' to fly in the face of the commonwealth parliament, which has twice in the past decade decided to keep the status quo.During the gay marriage debate in federal parliament in September, both houses rejected private members bills to legalise same sex marriage.

Labor allowed its MPs a conscience vote but the opposition did not.

One Liberal senator, Sue Boyce, spoke in favour of legalising gay marriage but she abstained from the vote.

Former party leader Malcolm Turnbull had said he would have voted in favour of gay marriage had a conscience vote been allowed on his side of parliament.

Mr Andrews said the coalition had crunched the numbers on the hypothetical prospect of a conscience vote by Liberal MPs.

“You don't last in politics for 21 years unless you can count,'' he said. “(We) counted the numbers ... The reality is it would not have made much difference whatsoever to the numbers. There would have been half a dozen people... who would have voted the other way.''

Mr Andrews made a veiled swipe at Prime Minister Julia Gillard for pulling out of addressing the Christian Lobby's conference.

Ms Gillard cancelled the speaking engagement after the group's head Jim Wallace was widely criticised for saying that being homosexual had a more damaging effect on an individual's longevity than did smoking.

Outside the conference at the Hyatt Hotel about 20 marriage equality campaigners protested with banners and chanted “hey hey, ho ho, these homophobes have got to go'' as a sole policeman watched on.