Plibersek coy on mandatory ALP gay vote

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek appears to be backing away from her call to force a mandatory gay-marriage vote on her colleagues.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek is refusing to say whether she will continue to pursue a campaign that aims to force her colleagues to support same-sex marriage legislation in parliament.

Ms Plibersek batted away questions from reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday about her plan to have the ALP national conference force a mandatory vote on Labor MPs, preferring to talk about a private member's bill her leader Bill Shorten will introduce to parliament next week.

"I'm pushing for the private member's bill ... I'm pushing for a free vote in the Liberal Party," she said.