“I said, as you would expect, ‘that is not helpful’,” Mr Joyce told ABC radio.

“I clearly said this is not the preferable way to do business.

“I’m not going to go into every word I said but, quite obviously, any person in parliament making a statement that they’re going to bring down the government, I don’t think the Australian people want that.”

Mr Broad said on Tuesday morning that he would break away from the Coalition government if there was a move to legalise same-sex marriage via a free vote in parliament.

“The government that I am a part of and will remain a part of is conditional on the fact that the only way that there will be a change to the Marriage Act in this parliament is a plebiscite,” Mr Broad said.

“My position as a member of the government is very clear on that.”

Mr Broad’s threat was effectively defused a few hours later when the Labor caucus voted to oppose legislation to enable a plebiscite, almost guaranteeing a loss in the senate.

However, opposition leader Bill Shorten used Mr Broad’s actions to attack Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership.

“You have got a few National Party members threatening to bring down the government; that’s Mr Turnbull’s problem,” Mr Shorten said. 

Mr Joyce was asked on ABC radio that night if a handful of members of parliament were holding the government hostage of same-sex marriage.

“I hope that is not the case,” Mr Joyce said.

“I had a yarn to Andrew about that; to be honest, that’s obviously not helpful.

“You can’t operate like that. The whole issue is that we have clearly stated our position: if you want to change the marriage act you can do it through a plebiscite.”