The Legislative Assembly passed a motion on Wednesday reiterating its call for a free vote in federal parliament, and urging for a "free, positive and respectful" discussion on marriage equality.

Should the plebiscite proceed, the motion called on Mr Barr's government to "demonstrate that the ACT is Australia's most lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning (LGBTIQ) friendly jurisdiction by supporting the case for marriage equality".

Mr Barr said he would do all he could to be a leading voice for same-sex marriage, federally and locally.

"The time to vote for marriage equality is now," he said.

"It's well and truly time, Canberra knows it, Australia knows it."

Mr Barr said the government would do everything it could to "ensure a supportive environment for Canberrans" during any plebiscite debate.

Labor backbencher Joy Burch accused local Liberal leader Jeremy Hanson of being "passive" and lacking leadership on same-sex marriage, during a debate in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

The accusations came after Mr Hanson said the federal issue of same-sex marriage was "no longer a matter for us as MLAs".

After the debate, Mr Hanson, who personally supports same-sex marriage, said Ms Burch's comments were unhelpful, and politicians had a responsibility to set the tone for the debate.

"Personally I have made it very clear that I support same-sex marriage and will be voting yes in a plebiscite," he said.

"I'€™m not sure that Joy's comments are helpful because I think that we need to set the tone for the community in this debate," he said.