Australia's biggest gay marriage lobby group are backing former prime minister Kevin Rudd to takeover the leadership of the Labor party and the country, ousting Julia Gillard.

As campaigning for the general election on 14 September heats up, speculation is emerging about the long-running rivalry between Gillard and Rudd.

Christopher Pearson, columnist for The Australian and speech writer for Australia's conservative former Prime Minister John Howard, has died aged 61.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott paid tribute to Pearson saying he was one of Australia's 'finest conservative intellects' and a 'steadfast' friend.

'I valued Christopher's counsel and his wisdom,' Abbott said, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

A man who was ordered by his local council to remove an anti-gay marriage billboard from the side of a road in north-western Tasmania has erected another one with the assistance of local church groups.

Graham Hodge erected the first sign in April near the town of Wynyard which depicted a male symbol and a female symbol and an equals sign with two rings but was ordered to take it down by Burnie City Council after it was discovered that Hodge had no approval to erect the sign.

Marriage equality advocates have called on Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote on marriage equality after he declared yesterday that ‘democratic political leaders have got to be conscious of the mood of the people.’

Marriage equality advocates in Australia are 'disappointed' that there will be no vote on marriage equality before the general election on 14 September.

Greens MP Adam Bandt had been pushing for a vote on his same-sex marriage bill next week, but the Labor and Liberal parties did not supporting holding a vote at this time.

A vote on a same-sex marriage bill last September was defeated in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Gay marriage campaigners are in Canberra, the Australian capital, today to lobby politicians to support marriage equality.

Rodney Croome, national director of Australian Marriage Equality, and Shelley Argent, national spokesperson for PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Australia are pushing for a vote on a same-sex marriage bill next week.

Around 500 people participated in rallies and a march for marriage equality today in Sydney.

The marchers assembled next to Sydney’s town hall and then marched through the city past Hyde Park and up Oxford Street to assemble at Taylor Square where they used chalk to remark a ‘rainbow crossing’ which had been controversially removed by the New South Wales state government.

Australia's finance minister Penny Wong has slammed the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) for comparing the children of gay couples to the 'stolen generations' of aboriginal children who were taken from their families.

'Redefining marriage ignore[s] the consequence of robbing children of their biological identity through same-sex surrogacy and other assisted reproductive technologies,' said ACL's managing director Lyle Shelton yesterday.

Wong, who has a one-year-old daughter with her partner Sophie Allouache and is a practicing Christian, said:

Australian supporters of marriage equality have picketed the electorate office of Opposition leader Tony Abbott to mark the signing into law of same-sex marriage by French President Francois Hollande.

Over 120 people gathered today outside Abbott’s Manly electorate office to highlight the fact that Australia is increasingly out of step with its international peers, with same-sex marriage legislation passing in New Zealand last month and France becoming the 14th country to allow same-sex couples.

Two candidates who voted against gay marriage in last year's Upper House vote in Tasmania won their seats in a local election yesterday. The third victor has also said she would vote against a state same-sex marriage bill.

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has ruled out a free vote in the Australian Parliament on same-sex marriage before 2016 if he is elected Prime Minister and says that so few of his MPs would vote for it that it would not pass now.

'I don't think anyone should expect that this is necessarily going to come up in the next parliament,' Abbott told Fairfax newspapers.

Tasmania Gay & Lesbian Rights Group are trying to make this Saturday's election for the state's Upper House all about marriage equality.

The gay rights group are anxious to vote-out the Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) who voted against legalizing same-sex marriage last September.

Voters will choose new MLCs in the electoral divisions of Nelson, Pembroke and Montgomery.