Christine Forster, a Liberal Party councillor and sister of former prime minister Tony Abbott, has questioned whether her party "could actually ever see fit to do the right thing" on same-sex marriage policy.
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Ms Forster, who sits on the City of Sydney council and wants to marry her long-term partner Virginia Edwards, said the outcome of a special party room meeting on Monday afternoon was "deeply disappointing".
"I don't think that anyone could argue that the government doesn't have a mandate to seek passage of the plebiscite. After all, that was the policy that was taken to the election and we won. But the political reality is that Bill Shorten won't pass the legislation and the crossbench is also opposed," Ms Forster told Fairfax Media.
She said same-sex marriage advocates would mount a legal challenge against the Coalition's plan to hold a postal plebiscite and declared that a free vote in Parliament had always been the best way to deal with the issue.
"That's always been the best option and always the one I've supported. It's just incredibly unfortunate that circumstances have transpired that political circumstances have prevented it from happening."
She said the Liberal Party's approach "just leaves me despairing about whether or not my party, which I'm a member of and which I love and am very loyal to, could actually ever see fit to do the right thing".
The Liberal party room held a special meeting on Monday afternoon to consider if they should allow a free vote. In the meeting, only seven MPs voted to abandon the plebiscite policy, with four times as many opposing them.
The government has now announced the details of its plan, which will see a voluntary, postal plebiscite conducted between September and November. It will be run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and cost $122 million.
Ms Forster said: "I've always said that it would probably be one of the most significant moments of my life if a Liberal-Coalition government could introduce this reform but, just this morning, I can't see any realistic likelihood that it will happen in this term. Perhaps in the next term of a Liberal government we'll get there but I can't see it happening in this term."
The next federal election is due in 2019.
She said it was better when social reforms were delivered by conservative governments because they "tend to take people in the middle ground, who perhaps need to be persuaded of change, along with them rather than driving through change that perhaps not everybody is completely comfortable with".
Ms Foster also praised a private member's bill drafted by senator Dean Smith.
