Last week the Senate approved the bill and rejected all proposed amendments that would have increased legal protections for those who would discriminate against gay couples on religious grounds.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, said he wants wedding celebrants, not just those affiliated with churches, to have the right to refuse to officiate at same-sex marriages.

He told Parliament, which resumed on Monday for its final two-week session of the year, that nothing in the bill threatened religious freedoms.

He explained: “We must not fail to recognise that there is sincere, heartfelt anxiety about the bill’s impact on religious freedom.

“That is why I will support several amendments to the bill which will provide that additional reassurance in respect of their fundamental rights and freedoms.”

The debated bill could soon legalise same-sex marriage in Australia as the major parties want the legislation passed this week after a majority of Australians endorsed reform in a postal ballot last month.

If the House of Representatives support Mr Turnbull’s proposed amendment, then the altered bill would have to return to the Senate for ratification, delaying the reform.

Meanwhile, Tim Wilson, who is part of the conservative coalition, was among the first politicians to join the debate and used his speech to propose to his 33-year-old partner Ryan Bolger, a primary school teacher, who was watching from the public…

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) says a “turning point” has been reached in the fight against poverty following the first sustained increases in child and pensioner poverty for 20 years.

Its state of the nation report said poverty rates increased last year, leaving 14 million people living in poverty, including four million children and 1.9 million pensioners.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the JRF, said: “These worrying figures suggest that we are at a turning point in our fight against poverty.

“Political choices, wage stagnation and economic uncertainty mean that hundreds of thousands more people are now struggling to make ends meet. This is a very real warning sign that our hard-fought progress is in peril”

Responding to the report, the Bishop of Durham Rt Revd Paul Butler (pictured above), on behalf of the Church, said: “I am deeply concerned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest findings, showing a rise in poverty over the past five years, and the negative impact this has on people’s health and relationships.

“The very high rates of poverty among single parent families (46%) and larger families (39%) are especially worrying, knowing that worse is to come with the continuing freeze in benefits and the introduction of the two-child limit.

“It was encouraging to hear of the Government’s amendments to Universal Credit in the recent Budget, which are a step in the right direction. But it is now…

Carmichael, who lived between 1867 and 1951, served the Lord in India for 55 years working with the poor.

She also founded an orphanage in Dohnavur, taking young women into her care.

Christian DUP MP, Gregory Campbell, wants Parliament to recognise the dedication of Carmichael’s service.

Speaking to Premier, he said: “She dedicated her life to helping others and sharing the gospel and I think the other enduring quality of her contribution is that 100 years after she started quite a small charitable missionary endeavour, it is still functioning and actively helping people today.

“I think that marks her out as a very, very significant Christian missionary and someone who hasn’t fully been recognised in the passage of time.”

Campbell said he would like to see “a means of recognition…just to indicate the enduring memory of someone like Amy Carmichael and the fact that she came from Northern Ireland, went to India and her enduring legacy continues.”