GAY marriage legal in Australia by next year? Under a new policy Liberal MPs have agreed on

GAY marriage could be legal in Australia by next year under a new policy Liberal MPs have agreed on in an emergency party room meeting today.

Liberal backbenchers have overwhelmingly agreed to try for a second time to secure a plebiscite on marriage equality.

The government’s first attempt at a plebiscite on marriage equality was blocked by Labor, Greens and crossbench senators in November.

Prime Minister Turnbull called the emergency party meeting today to secure a way forward, and bring Liberal infighting over the issue to an end, before Parliament returns tomorrow.

Earlier Nationals MP Andrew Broad has threatened to quit the Coalition over same-sex marriage if the Liberal Party allows MPs a parliamentary vote on the issue without a plebiscite.

Mr Broad told his local newspaper, the Sunraysia Daily, if marriage law was changed without a plebiscite it would signal the end of the Coalition.

“It won’t be me only, the whole show would blow up,” he was quoted as saying. “So suddenly you’d lose 16 lower house members in one bloc. Turnbull’s leadership would become untenable and he’d no longer be prime minister.”

Source: Gay marriage vote emergency meeting: Liberal MPs open to postal plebiscite