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.

Over three-thousand flyers displaying statistics showing that gay people have a lower life expectancy than straight people have been distributed in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart ahead of a key gay marriage vote this Saturday.

State electoral commissioner Julian Type described the flyers as 'hateful and scurrilous' and said they could be a breach of the Electoral Act because they are not authorized.

The flyers are not attributed to any particular group or political party, and only have a cryptic email address as a clue to who made them.

Australian independent MP Tony Windsor has proposed that the nation say yes or no to gay marriage in a referendum in September.

Windsor suggests taking the issue 'out of the hands of the politicians' and letting the public vote on the issue on the day of the general election - 14 September.

The government is planning to hold a referendum on recognizing local government in the constitution on that day, so it would not be much of an extra cost to include an extra question on the ballot paper.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle agreed that Australia is starting to look 'a bit silly' for not going ahead with gay marriage as other countries around the world do so.

Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said this morning that she will introduce a bill that will allow international same-sex marriages to be legally recognized in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to change her opposition to gay marriage after New Zealand passed it today (17 April).

The leader of the Labor party said she will not be moved from her stance despite her country having close ties to the Kiwi nation.

She was asked by a member of the public in Melbourne last night (16 April) on why Australia was lagging behind New Zealand when it comes to equality, the AAP reports.

‘I doubt we're going to end up agreeing,’ Gillard said.

LGBT rights advocates in the Australian state of Tasmania have welcomed overwhelming support in its Lower House of Parliament for the passage of legislation removing a ban on adoption by same-sex couples, saying it is in the best interests of children.

This afternoon the Tasmanian Lower House voted 18 to 4 to allow same-sex couples to be assessed as potential adoptive parents on the same basis as other couples.

A day after his daughters publicly announced their support for same-sex marriage, Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has doubled down in his opposition to same-sex couples being allowed to wed – saying that he will never allow his MPs a conscience vote on the issue while the party line was to oppose it.