Australia PM promises "candid" debate on same-sex marriage

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised on Wednesday there will be a "very full, frank and candid" debate inside his partyroom about legalizing same-sex marriage.

Momentum for the proposed changes is growing in Australia after the predominately Catholic country of Ireland voted by referendum in favor of same-sex marriage on the weekend.

Australia's governing Liberal/National Coalition remains against the change and Prime Minster Tony Abbott has not yet allowed the Coalition to vote freely on the matter, stifling political debate on the changes.

However, some of Abbott's own MPs have been reflecting wider public sentiment by publicly signaling their intent to vote for the changes.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, whose Labor Party is allowed a free vote, said on Tuesday that Australia needed to catch up to the times and he would get the ball rolling.

Shorten will introduce a private member's bill to parliament next week with a vote expected later in the year.

In responding to the Opposition Leader's intentions, Tony Abbott told reporters on Wednesday the Coalition would debate the issue vigorously behind closed doors when the time came.

"I'm sure at that time we'll have a very full and frank and candid and decent debate," the prime minister told reporters in Canberra.

"It is an issue where decent people can differ. Indeed inside families, as is well known in my own case," he said, in a nod to his openly gay sister.

Abbott, earlier in the week, ruled out following the lead of Ireland by going to the polls, saying questions on marriage remained "the preserve of the commonwealth parliament." Endi