An “overwhelming majority” of Liberal Party MPs have voted to oppose the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, according to opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Dutton revealed the Australian centre-right Liberals will join its Coalition partner, the Nationals, in opposing a change to Australia’s Constitution after a two-hour party room meeting in Canberra.
“We’ve been clear that we don’t support [Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s] ‘Canberra Voice.’ It’s divisive, and it’s not going to deliver the outcomes to people on the ground,” he told reporters on April 5.
“Our proposal is a local and regional Voice so that we can listen to those women, and listen to those elders on the ground and get a better outcome,” he said.
Deputy leader Sussan Ley said it was also a day of many “yesses” from the party.
The Extent of Power Being Granted to ‘The Voice’ Unclear: Dutton
Australians are set to vote on a referendum on whether to alter the Constitution’s preamble to recognise Indigenous people and to set up a near-permanent advisory body to the Parliament supposed to represent Aboriginal communities.The body will comprise 24 Indigenous individuals selected for a national committee that will receive feedback from the community and can then make “representations” to Parliament.
Yet one of the main criticisms has been the lack of detail over the working mechanisms and the extent of the powers granted to the committee.
“I’ve spent literally months, like many Australians, trying to understand what it is the prime minister is proposing. We can’t get the basic detail out of him, and I think that is a deliberate strategy,” Dutton said.
He says the opposition had waited for official advice from the government on The Voice and that it was not provided. He also added that the third draft of The Voice was inconsistent with the advice of the solicitor-general.
“If there is an overreach on what the prime minister is proposing,” Dutton said. “If it does go too far, and the High Court’s interpretation is more liberal ... Does the prime minister then go back to the Australian people to seek to narrow the words?
“That is a very real prospect if they overreach now, and they need to confine and tighten the words again ... it does grind government down to a near halt.”
Dutton also confirmed he would be actively campaigning against the current proposal but did not rule out the “three or four” backbenchers from his party supporting the other side.
“We’re not saying that Indigenous people shouldn’t be heard in relation to matters that are important to them,” he said.
Plea to the Liberals to Back The Voice
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier called for bipartisan support for The Voice.“This is not controversial and should not be an issue of partisan politics. It’s a modest proposal,” he told reporters.
“The idea that you can simply ignore or dismiss the views of the referendum working group, in my view, contradicts the very concept of a Voice, which is about listening.”
Former Liberal Party minister, Ken Wyatt, said earlier that a decision to oppose The Voice would impact its future election chances.
“Parties that are out of touch will pay the consequence in the future,” he told ABC Radio National.
“People who argue contrary to that shows they did not give scant attention to even the executive summary of those reports.
In response to the Liberal’s decision, Labor Minister Brendan O'Connor called the Liberal Party’s decision “shocking.”
