Former Liberal Premier Nick Greiner has revealed his daughter is in a long-standing same-sex relationship, and is calling on party leader Tony Abbott to allow a fair conscience vote on marriage equality.

“The Liberal Party I’ve been a member of for 40 years is essentially the party of individual freedom, it’s the party that believes in conscience votes,” Greiner (pictured) said on Sky News, reports the Daily Telegraph.

“I have a family member, a daughter, who’s in a gay marriage, or a gay relationship, so I could be said to have a bias. But I think the notion of not giving people a conscience vote on what is quintessentially a conscience vote issue is just bizarre.”

Greiner was a conservative leader of NSW when he served as Premier between 1988 and 1992, but like with so many politicians before him, having a close family member come out certainly makes you think a lot on progressive social issues.

As Labor has allowed a conscience vote on marriage equality and Tony Abbott’s coalition hasn’t, Abbott’s lack of support for the law reform could well mean it’ll be defeated when Parliament debates it soon, despite the Senate backing it whole-heartedly.

Abbott also has a same-sex relationship in the family – his sister Christine Forster publicly came out last year in support of marriage equality. The Surry Hills resident has now put herself forward for mayoralty of Sydney, aiming to take over from staunch LGBTI rights advocate Clover Moore, reports the Herald Sun.