Tony Abbott's gay sister Christine Forster says she hopes same-sex couples across the country will eventually be allowed to marry but concedes it isn't a big issue for most Australians.
Ms Forster is engaged to her partner of six years Virginia Edwards, and describes the passage of laws in the ACT this week allowing gay marriage for the first time as "historic" and "significant".
But the federal government led by her brother will begin challenging the legislation in the High Court on Friday, arguing the ACT law is inconsistent with the federal Marriage Act and Family Law Act.
The Commonwealth has lodged its objection to the laws and wants an expedited hearing so a decision can be made before the first marriages happen in early December.
Ms Forster said on Friday she hoped the ACT laws were just one step in the journey towards marriage equality for all in Australia.
But she understood that like her brother, not everybody agreed with her on the matter.
"For people like me, it's something that's very close to my heart, it's part of life, it's something I feel very dearly about," she told ABC Radio.
"But for your average Australian it's not a big deal."
Prime Minister Abbott said as a "traditionalist", he did not believe institutional arrangements that had stood the test of time should be changed lightly.
But he conceded many Australians thought differently.
"I am disinclined to think that all of that history should be turned on its head just because, at this moment in time, albeit a significant section of the population thinks that we could do things in a way which is in need of something different," he told News Limited on Friday.
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