A Turnbull government minister with oversight of the postal survey on same-sex marriage has issued a fresh apology for once describing homosexuality as "sordid behaviour" and blaming gay people for the AIDS epidemic.
A newspaper column penned 25 years ago by Nationals MP and Small Business Minister Michael McCormack resurfaced on Friday morning.
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Labor leader Bill Shorten has given a rousing speech in Parliament setting out his party's game plan, to get out and support the "yes" campaign for same-sex marriage.
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The former PM will vote against same sex marriage and has offered up reasons for people to do the same.
The column, published in Wagga's Daily Advertiser in 1993 when Mr McCormack was the editor, claimed that "a week never goes by anymore that homosexuals and their sordid behaviour don't become further entrenched in society".
"Unfortunately gays are here and, if the disease their unnatural acts helped spread doesn't wipe out humanity, they're here to stay," he wrote.
Mr McCormack said those who condemn homosexuality were simply showing "moral backbone", and scoffed at attempts by the gay community to demand equal rights.
As Small Business Minister, Mr McCormack is responsible for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which will conduct the federal government's contentious postal survey on same-sex marriage.
Today host Lisa Wilkinson raised the column on Friday with Turnbull government frontbencher Christopher Pyne.
"Those remarks are not acceptable in modern society. I don't agree with them," Mr Pyne said.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Mr McCormack said his views had "changed quite significantly" since he penned the editorial.
"I have grown and learnt not only to tolerate, but to accept all people regardless of their sexual orientation or any other trait or feature which makes each of us different and unique," Mr McCormack said.
"I apologised wholeheartedly for the comments at the time and many times since, but I am making this statement to unreservedly apologise again today."
Mr McCormack said he had "grown" and hoped others "can do the same".
"The debate on same-sex marriage should at all times be carried out in a respectful manner and I encourage both sides to be mindful of the hurt that their words might inflict, even unintentionally.
"I will respect the will of the people and vote accordingly in the Parliament, and I encourage every Australian to have their say in the upcoming survey."
- with AAP
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