Then on Thursday, when the first opportunity arose for the reinstalled Deputy Prime Minister to put forward a vote since being eligibly elected, he abstained.

Mr Joyce was among nine politicians in the House of Representatives who decided not to participate in the historic vote on the Marriage Act.

Much has been made of the four MPs who cast their vote against the bill when it finally came time for the House to decide yesterday. Their lonely figures couldn’t be missed against the mass of 136 politicians.

These were politicians who were adamantly against the bill that would make same-sex marriage legal and allow for some protections to be claimed by religious institutions that didn’t agree with those unions.

There were others like them on the other side, who despite their personal disapproval sided with the majority of Australians who voted and allowed the bill to pass. And some voted for the bill to pass despite their constituents voicing their opposition to marriage reform.

But those who either escaped the chamber or didn’t bother to show up declined to represent their electorates when it came to the crunch, and have largely escaped scrutiny.

MPS WHO WANTED TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THIS NARRATIVE

Nine MPs, all members of the government, were absent from the chamber at the time of the vote.

They were Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, Treasurer Scott Morrison, former prime minister Tony Abbott, assistant ministers Alex Hawke and Michael Sukkar, Liberal MPs Andrew Hastie, Kevin Andrews, and Rick Wilson, and Nationals MP George Christensen.

Each of the representatives had been present in the chamber during the debate and made speeches about the bill, and most had proposed amendments that were opposed.

Mr Hastie and Mr Wilson were the only MPs who indicated early on they would abstain from the vote.

Mr Hastie, a Liberal MP from Western Australia, stated that he believed marriage was only between a man and a woman and had “associated beliefs” about parenting.

He put forward an amendment that he claimed would protect people from publicly expressing those views from legal action, unless they were hateful, harassing, or threatening.

“The shield will only be enlivened when people who hold a sincere and relevant belief in traditional marriage are attacked,” Mr Hastie told parliament on Tuesday night. “It is not a sword to be wielded in the service of bigotry.”

His proposal was voted down. A division recorded that 56 were in favour of his protections compared to 87 against.

Mr Sukkar also put forward an amendment, but received support from only 43 MPs.

The assistant minister wanted to create two categories of marriage, and to give new celebrants the ability to refuse to marry couples if they hold a “genuine religious or conscientious belief”.

Earlier the member for Deakin said he would abide by the outcome of the public vote.

Although he predicted a No vote would be returned, he said it was important to respect the will of the people “whether it’s a Yes or No vote”.

Mr Sukkar’s proposal was supported by his Liberal colleague Mr Abbott, who spoke up yesterday saying almost five million people in Australia had voted No to same-sex marriage.

“It respects traditional marriage while allowing same-sex marriage to take place,” he said of Mr Sukkar’s proposed amendment.

He said protections for freedom of conscience, religion and parental choice would make the bill a “unifying occasion”.

Mr Abbott’s decision not to vote has been called a “cowardly act”. While the member for Warringah — one of the electorates that recorded the highest Yes votes — never explicitly stated whether he planned to vote or abstain, he was consistent in saying he would respect the outcome of the plebiscite, even if it went against his well-known stance against same-sex marriage.

Despite being present in the chamber for much of Thursday, he headed for the exit when it came time to vote on whether to pass the bill.

Mr Morrison was also among those who had amendments voted down and declined to participate in the final vote, as were Mr Hawke and Mr Broad.

North Queensland Nationals representative Mr Christensen hadn’t proposed amendments of his own but was vocal in criticising cheers from the public gallery when Greens MP Adam Bandt put forward his proposal to remove religious exemptions from the bill.

In a Facebook post earlier on Thursday, he told his followers he would not be communicating his electorate’s Yes vote to parliament.

“The House of Representatives has just voted to not allow civil celebrants — even those who are pastors — to exempt themselves from having to perform marriages for same sex couples,” he wrote on Thursday. “They’ve effectively ensured a lot of people who would otherwise vote for legislation to allow same sex marriage can no longer vote that way, myself included.”

Finally, Mr Joyce, who had used his time on the floor during the debate to reveal his marriage had broken down, also chose to abstain from the vote.

His electorate of New England in rural NSW had voted for same-sex marriage with a 52.5 per cent majority.

But despite having their MP sworn into parliament only the day before, New Englanders’ votes were not represented in the decision to pass the same-sex marriage bill.

PM: ‘YOU CAN ABSTAIN IF YOU WISH’

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who voted for the bill’s passage, said after the vote he was comfortable with whichever way his party’s MPs voted, and with them choosing not to.

Asked specifically about Mr Abbott’s absence and what he thought of it, Mr Turnbull said he hadn’t been aware.

“I didn’t notice his absence, was he not there?” he said on ABC radio.

“It is a free vote and in our party a free vote means you can vote for or against, or abstain if you wish.”

Mr Turnbull said he hadn’t spoken with Mr Abbott since the vote.

The MPs who abstained from the vote yesterday join a significant number of politicians who were absent from voting on the marriage bill on its passage through the Senate last week.

A total of seventeen Senators from across the political spectrum were either absent or abstained from voting in the Senate’s same-sex marriage decision.

Twelve Senators, including two from Labor, six from the Coalition, and four crossbenchers voted against the bill.