Turnbull orders parliament to sit until marriage equality is passed this year

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered the lower house of parliament to sit this year until marriage equality is passed.

Following last week’s overwhelming Yes victory in the postal survey, Turnbull has been under fire for the delay in legislating marriage equality, according to News.com.au.

“The Australian people expect their parliament to respect the clear mandate of the marriage survey and legislate for marriage equality before the end of the year,” said senior government minister and Leader of the House Christopher Pyne in a statement this morning.

“We also need to ensure both the House and the Senate do all they can to resolve the citizenship issue.

“That is the commitment we have made and that is what the Australian people expect.”

Pyne said MPs should be prepared to sit for “as long as it takes to legislate for marriage equality and resolve all citizenship issues”.

He said the delay was because the senate would likely not finish debating the marriage equality bill until the end of this month.

“The House will resume on December 4 at 10 am, not November 27, and will sit until marriage equality is law and all citizenship issues have been dealt with by the House,” said Pyne.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten took to Twitter to accuse Turnbull of “running scared”.

“If you can’t run the parliament, you can’t run the country,” Shorten tweeted this morning.