Attorney General George Brandis has accused the opposition of playing politics with the lives of gay Australians.
Senator Brandis said he can't hide his disappointment after meeting on Monday with his Labor counterpart Mark Dreyfus to try to break the cross-party deadlock over a same sex marriage plebiscite.
The fallout from today's meeting quickly evolved into a blame game with Senator Brandis claiming he offered to compromise but wanted to know what it would take to get Labor's support.
"I think the Australian people are ready for this. I think they want it," he told reporters in Brisbane.
He said he is worried that if the issue is not dealt with now that it will go off the boil and be forgotten.
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the ball is in Labor's court.
"What we've said is if you have something to put to us, we'll listen carefully and consider it," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney this morning.
Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has returned fire.
He told reporters in Brisbane that he was surprised the Attorney General didn't come to the meeting with something in hand.
"It is possible to say this plebiscite was set up to fail," Mr Dreyfus said.
It follows suggestions from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce that his Nationals Party won't support any compromise.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused the right-wing of the Coalition of taking away the government's ability to negotiate a compromise, and has said a plebiscite is a shocking waste of money.
"There has been no case seriously made to justify spending millions and millions of dollars on a vote which will be compulsory for Australians but not compulsory for politicians to accept," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"They could easily have a vote in parliament which wouldn't cost the taxpayer a single additional dollar."
The Labor caucus is yet to formally decide whether it'll give the plebiscite on February 11th 2017 the green light.
It is set to make its final position clear at the next caucus meeting in two weeks' time when parliament resumes sitting.
If the plebiscite goes ahead, voters will be asked: "Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?"
With AAP.
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