Veteran marriage equality advocate Rodney Croome has said he believes marriage equality is coming to Australia soon, following news of Liberal Senator Dean Smith working on a private members bill.

Speaking on ABC Radio, Mr Croome said he was confident Senator Smith’s bill would succeed, despite the government’s unwavering plebiscite policy.

“I’m more confident now that we’ll see marriage equality achieved in the near future than at any other time since the last election,” Croome said.

“The Prime Minister seems okay with this path being forged and the best thing the Prime Minister can do now I think is to just step out of the way and allow his party room to decide if they will have a free vote or not.”

Mr Croome added that if a free vote were allowed on the issue, he is certain the bill would pass.

“It’ll take no more than a couple of hours and Australia can finally move on from a debate that has really gone on for too long.”

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz told The Australian the Liberal party room had already decided that a plebiscite is the best approach.

“There remains strong support in the community for a plebiscite and if it were determined by a plebiscite I think that matter would then have the support of the Australian people,” Senator Abetz said.

“If the parliament wants to deny the Australian people their voice in changing society’s foundational institution, namely marriage, if parliamentarians think that they know better on such a fundamental issue than the Australian people, that sadly tells you everything you need to know about Bill Shorten, the Labor Party and the Greens.”

OIP Staff