The Greens have used the same language as attorney general George Brandis to tell Labor to stop delaying its official position on the marriage equality plebiscite.
In a statement on Tuesday, LGBTI spokesperson Janet Rice called on Labor leader Bill Shorten to "stop playing politics with the lives of LGBTI Australians" and finally announce his party's opposition to the plebiscite.
"Mr Shorten says he wants to 'get on with it', but we’ve been waiting for weeks to find out his party’s position on a marriage equality plebiscite," Rice said.
The first line of the statement reads "'Why don’t we just get on with it,' asks man who’s dragged out the plebiscite debate for three weeks".
Last month, Brandis accused the opposition of doing precisely the same thing – but for the exact opposite reason.
Instead, he said Labor should stop playing politics and *support* the plebiscite.
"If Mr Shorten could stop playing politics with the lives of gay people and put the interests of a cause he claims to believe in first, then he would support the plebiscite bill," Brandis told the parliament in mid-September.
Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek held more talks with LGBTI groups about the plebiscite today, appearing at a press conference alongside eminent mental health advocate professor Patrick McGorry as he called for the government to ditch the proposal.
The former Australian of the year said the risk of LGBTI people suffering ill mental health goes up during such debates.
"We know when these campaigns are held in the public domain like in the US and in Ireland, the risk goes up. There is evidence to support that," he said.
"This is a dangerous thing to be doing to actually give a free rein to this debate. It will harm people's mental health."
Pressed on when Labor will once and for all determine how it will actually vote on the legislation, Shorten said it would be decided at the caucus meeting on Tuesday next week.
"Everyone knows my own instinct. My instinct is that a plebiscite is an abdication of responsibility," he said.
Without Labor's support, the legislation will fail in the senate. However, there has been speculation about whether Labor could support an amended plebiscite proposal, including legislation that is self-enacting or a vote with no public funding.
Shorten would not be drawn on potential compromises on Tuesday, saying "Let's see if it gets up" when asked if he would support a self-enacting plebiscite.
"The compromise is how you best get to marriage equality," he said.
Despite the current equivocation, Labor is the only party to have consistently opposed the plebiscite since its inception.
The Greens and various independents had a brief pro-plebiscite moment in 2015, when they believed a plebiscite at the 2016 election was a possibility, and the issue could be done and dusted in less than a year.
Obviously, that didn't come to pass. Following a senate inquiry that found a public vote on marriage is, in short, a terrible idea, the Greens came down hard against the proposal.
In conclusion, here is a very real picture of the current marriage equality debate in Australia:
