Australia set to follow Ireland on same-sex marriage

Opposition party MPs in Australia hope to harness momentum from the Irish marriage equality referendum after proposing a law that would recognise same-sex marriages.

Labour’s Bill Shorten became the first leader of a major Australian political party to back a bill to overturn a national ban on gay marriage.

Gay rights advocates fear government MPs will be reluctant to back the bill as it would be seen as a political victory for Shorten over prime minister Tony Abbott, a former Roman Catholic seminarian and a staunch opponent of marriage equality.