Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm is poised to introduce his long-awaited same-sex marriage bill to the Senate, in a move that will increase the pressure on the Liberal Party to allow its MPs a conscience vote on the issue.
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Senator Leyonhjelm is due to introduce his Freedom to Marry Bill to the upper house on Wednesday afternoon, which would allow gay, transgender and intersex people to marry.
He will flag his plans in a speech to the Senate on Tuesday evening.
The bill proposes to change the wording of the Marriage Act to define marriage as "the union of two people" rather than a "man and a woman". But it will not make it compulsory for celebrants to marry same-sex couples, except in the case of government employed celebrants.
The Libertarian senator has previously argued he would not introduce his bill until it had a good chance of success. Last month, he decided to delay the bill's introduction after advice from MPs about timing.
But after a recent dinner with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who does not support same sex marriage, the LDP senator changed his mind.
"As a result of my discussion during that dinner I decided there was nothing for me to achieve by delaying it," Senator Leyonhjelm said.
Mr Abbott has previously said the Liberals' position on same-sex marriage would be a question for the post-2013 election party room. The party room requires a bill to be before the Parliament to prompt debate on the issue.
Liberal sources said there is only a small political window in which to get same-sex marriage on the party's parliamentary agenda – given that MPs had not wanted to raise the issue in the first year after the election and would not want it being swamped by the build up to the next federal election.
Marriage equality advocates, who have been lobbying Coalition MPs in their home electorates since early this year, believe they have the support of up to 70 per cent of the party room for a conscience vote. But Liberal sources say it is impossible to estimate the numbers at this stage. Some MPs are yet to make up their minds, while others do not want to declare their positions. This is because some are mindful of reaction within their electorates and because Mr Abbott is strongly opposed to the reform.
So far, only a handful of Liberal MPs are on the record as supporting same-sex marriage. These include Queensland MP Wyatt Roy, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and parliamentary secretary to the Environment Minister Simon Birmingham.
The Leyonhjelm bill is not expected to go before the Liberal Party room before the end of the year. There is only one more scheduled meeting left for 2015 and the bill is likely to go through a parliamentary committee process first.
Senator Leyonhjelm will tell the Senate on Wednesday that he supports marriage equality because: "I think that people ought to have the freedom to choose their own path."
"When the law says that gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex people cannot marry ... a major choice is being closed off."
Marriage equality advocates described Senator Leyonhjelm's bill as a turning point.
"This is going to be that critical moment where the government can't duck on this issue anymore," Australian Marriage Equality's deputy director Ivan Hinton-Teoh said. "They need to create plans to have this discussion."
Mr Hinton-Teoh said the bill was also "the chance for marriage equality advocates in the Coalition to find their voice".
Earlier this year, polling by the Liberal Party's own pollster Crosby Textor found 72 per cent of Australians supported marriage equality, while 77 per cent thought Coalition MPs should be granted a conscience vote.
