Groups representing the LGBTI community are meeting Attorney-General George Brandis in a bid to overcome a political impasse over a planned plebiscite on same-sex marriage.
Senator Brandis is keen to make the point that the end - changing the Marriage Act - outweighs the means of getting there.
"This is the most credible and, frankly, the only available path to having this matter resolved in the short term," he told ABC radio on Thursday of a plebiscite.
Labor is sticking to its guns in opposing the plan for a February poll, although it remains open to talks with the government about the issue.
"But at the moment the LGBTI community has said loud and clear, by a substantial majority, that they do not want a plebiscite," shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus said.
