Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged the need for compromise and negotiation if policies such as the same-sex marriage plebiscite are to make it through the Parliament.
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On Thursday, the government revealed a modified superannuation package following internal Coalition anger over some proposals and Mr Turnbull said changes such as this if people wanted politicians to be prepared to listen and change.
On Friday, 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell pressed the Prime Minister on whether this applied to the plebiscite and the company tax cuts, policies the government has previously insisted would not change.
Defending the new superannuation policy as "improved" and only one part of a sweeping package, Mr Turnbull said not having a majority in the Senate meant compromise would be essential on "most issues".
"I understand your point but is everything else on the table. We see an "ironclad" promise changing. What about the plebiscite? What about the tax cuts? Is everything on the table?" Mitchell probed.
"We may have to negotiate on all of these matters. The one thing that is very clear is that you cannot expect to get legislation through the senate on a take it or leave it basis unless people agree with the proposition," Mr Turnbull said.
"I'm going to compromise, if I have to, with the members in the Senate," he added, refusing to foreshadow any specific changes.
A spokeswoman for Mr Turnbull later clarified that there would be no changes to the plebiscite policy, its question or the public funding of the ''yes" and "no" campaigns.
"What was proposed this week is the Prime Minister's position," she told Fairfax Media.
The legislation appears doomed with Labor, the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team set to vote it down and insisting the Prime Minister enable a free vote among his MPs.
The government has consistently said the policy, established under former prime minister Tony Abbott and adopted by Mr Turnbull, is the only way same-sex marriage will become reality but some have declined to say what will happen should the legislation be defeated.
In Friday's interview, the Prime Minister also distanced himself from conservative backbencher George Christensen's calls for a curb on Muslim immigration from countries with high levels of violent extremism.
While saying that people are right to be concerned about Islamist terrorism in Australia, Mr Turnbull reiterated that the government has a "non-discriminatory" immigration policy that enforced strong security checks.
Mr Christensen had named Syria as a country of particular concern but the Prime Minister made the point that 12,000 refugees from oppressed minorities were being admitted as part of a special intake from the conflict in Iraq and Syria.
"He was talking about, as I heard it, Islamist terrorist ideology and that is absolutely the focus of so much of our counter-terrorism work," he said.
"But can I just say to you that tagging all Muslims with the crimes of a few is fundamentally wrong and it's also counter-productive."
The Queensland MP, who sits in the Nationals party room, was also one of the most vocal critics of the government's superannuation proposals and had threatened to cross the floor.
In her first speech to the Senate this week, One Nation senator Pauline Hanson called for an end to Muslim immigration.
NOTE: This story was updated at 5pm to include the clarifying statement from the Prime Minister's office.
