Attorney general George Brandis has called on Bill Shorten and Labor to "stop playing politics with the lives of gay people", one day after Labor introduced a same-sex marriage bill to the parliament.
On Tuesday, Brandis released the details of the taxpayer-funded national poll, calling on Labor to support the legislation in the senate.
"So I call on Bill Shorten to get out of the way to allow the plebiscite bill passage through the senate to allow the Australian people to have their say," said Brandis.
The government needs Labor's numbers in the upper house to pass legislation to hold the plebiscite. Brandis accused Shorten of playing with the lives of gay people.
"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."
Bill Shorten has been speaking out against the plebiscite since it was first introduced. Yesterday he brought forward another marriage equality bill in the house of representatives.
We don’t need an expensive + divisive plebiscite, we could have #marriageequality this week.
Despite Labor's aggressive words, Shorten and opposition MPs have refused to completely close the door on supporting the plebiscite.