When young Bendigo couple Monika Bell and Alex Campbell-Smith are asked why they want to marry, their answer is beautiful in its simplicity. 

“Because it's love, and it deserves to be celebrated – just like any other couple,” Ms Campbell-Smith said. 

The pair became engaged in May this year after spending the past four years together, but they are waiting for marriage equality to become law before they say “I do”. 

“Neither of us are really interested in just having a commitment ceremony and then waiting for gay marriage to become legal...we’ll wait it out,” Ms Bell said. 

Despite continued frustrations over government tactics to deny a free vote on equal marriage, Ms Bell said Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s “olive branch” of a referendum or plebiscite might be just the ticket. 

“I don't think that it should be an issue for the government to decide on. I think they should take it to a referendum and let the community vote,” she said. 

“I think that if it did go to the people and it was voted through, that would give me peace of mind that this is what everyone wants.”

She said it was time for Mr Abbott and his government to start listening to people and stop pushing their own personal ideals. 

“It’s really archaic to think that marriage is only between a man and a woman – the definition of marriage has changed so much over time, why now is it this big deal where you can't change it?”

Ms Bell said the most important thing was to have rights equal to those that heterosexual married couples enjoyed, but having the same rights minus the name was not true equality. 

“It’s really promoting that idea of otherness still, it's not really equality,” she said. 

She said when she first came out, it was tough. That might be different for gay youth in the future if marriage equality was enshrined in law. 

Introducing marriage equality could help end discrimination, Ms Bell said. 

“If you bring in marriage equality, it almost gets rid of the stigma around it,” she said. 

“You really decrease the chance of LGBTI kids getting bullied in schools for their sexuality if it's just seen as normal, like it's not a big deal.”

The youthful pair, both 24, said marriage equality should be legalised so energy could be focused on other critical issues plaguing the nation.  

“There are so many more important things, this should have been done and dusted a long time ago,” Ms Campbell-Smith said.