Tony Abbott has played down the cabinet rebellion over same-sex marriage by stressing his 25-year friendship with Christopher Pyne, who in a significant intervention this week warned the Prime Minister over his party room ambush.
Mr Pyne on Friday became the third moderate cabinet minister to baulk at Treasurer Joe Hockey and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison's proposal for a referendum to change the constitution to allow gay marriage.
This came just days after he was reported as having warned the Prime Minister that including the Nationals in a party room meeting on same-sex marriage would be seen as tantamount to "branch stacking".
Speaking in Adelaide, Tony Mr Abbott cautioned against interpreting too much from Mr Pyne's comments.
"I think you are reading far too much into an observation," he told journalists.
"I have a very strong friendship with Christopher that goes back almost a quarter of a century now."
Appearing on Channel Nine's Today program earlier on Friday, Mr Pyne confirmed he did not want the Nationals, who mostly oppose same-sex marriage, included in the Liberal Party's debate.
But he said that despite losing the case for a free vote - which would allow ministers to vote in favour of change without losing their jobs - he remained a supporter of the Prime Minister.
"The Prime Minister and I are tight as a drum," the Education Minister said.
Mr Pyne joined Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull in rejecting calls to change the constitution, instead of passing a law to allow for gay marriage.
Mr Abbott has not clarified whether he will commit to holding a plebiscite, which requires a majority to succeed, or a referendum, which requires a majority nationwide, as well as a majority of states.
A plebiscite is similar to a national opinion poll, whereas a referendum is held to change the constitution.
Mr Pyne said amending the Marriage Act to legalise gay marriage was a matter for Parliament, not the constitution.
"Obviously that should be done through a plebiscite because there's absolutely no reason to change the constitution, the Attorney-General's made that entirely clear," Mr Pyne said.
"There's no legal reason to change the Australian constitution, and so a referendum would cost a great deal of money …only to achieve no outcome because there's no legal basis for a referendum."
Mr Pyne is the third moderate cabinet minister to reject a referendum, first proposed by Mr Hockey and supported by Mr Morrison and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop.
On Wednesday Mr Morrison said: "Simply at the moment, in Clause 21, it just says 'marriage'. Now you could equally put in there 'opposite and same-sex marriage' and clarify very clearly what the meaning of the Constitution is on this question." .
But in a forceful intervention, the Attorney-General George Brandis said: "No constitutional referendum is necessary in this case."
Mr Turnbull backed the Attorney-General on Friday and said his comments were "absolutely correct".
"The Commonwealth Parliament, the national Parliament, has full constitutional power under the constitution as it stands to legislate for same-sex marriage, so there is no need to change the constitution at all," he told reporters in Bondi.
Mr Abbott said the government would confirm the form of the public vote before the next election.
The Coalition held a six-hour meeting to determine its position on same-sex marriage for its current term in government, which is already halfway through.
Three Liberals - Dean Smith, Teresa Gambaro and Wyatt Roy - say they will cross the floor if a vote on a cross-party bill to be introduced on Monday is held.
