In November 2014,
Liberal Democratic Party senator
David Leyonhjelm reintroduced the
Freedom to Marry Bill 2014 in the Senate, though by March 2015 Leyonhjelm had deferred the imminent second reading of his bill due to the refusal of the Coalition party room to debate a conscience vote on the legislation.
In May 2015, renewed debate on the issue followed the
2015 Irish constitutional referendum that established marriage equality in Ireland. A report in Fairfax Media stated that if the Coalition gives their members a free vote, then the senate may carry a motion by one, and the lower house needed two extra supporters. Some MPs and Senators who would vote for the bill have not publicised their voting intention. In the wake of the result in Ireland, several Liberal Party MP's publicly voiced their support for a 'free vote' on same-sex marriage legislation.
Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese stated that, in his estimation (and contingent on a Liberal Party free vote occurring) "it is my judgment that there are now majorities in favour of marriage equality in both the House of Representatives and the Senate".
Greens senator
Sarah Hanson-Young nominated November 12, the second-last sitting week of the parliamentary year for a vote on her private member's bill.While Hanson-Young and
David Leyonhjelm had
private member's bills in the upper house,
Labor leader Bill Shorten introduced a private member's bill to legalise same-sex marriage to the Parliament on June 1. On May 29, details of the bill, known as the Marriage Amendment (Marriage Equality) Bill 2015, were released, with the words "man and woman" in the Marriage Act to be replaced by "two people", whilst Section 88EA of the Act would be repealed entirely so as to enable same-sex couples already married overseas to be recognised as married in Australia. Some MP's have responded by arguing that a different bill, introduced by multiple politicians from the Labor and Liberal parties would be more appropriate.
Labor Party MP's retain their free vote on same-sex marriage legislation, while Prime Minister
Tony Abbott has promised a "very full, frank and candid and decent" debate inside the Liberal Party. It is likely a vote will be held on the legislation (or similar legislation to the same effect) in the August 2015 sitting session of the Parliament.