The advice from the nation’s second law officer on the Indigenous voice will be made public, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who opposes the voice being enshrined in the constitution, has been calling on Albanese to release the advice provided by the solicitor-general to the cabinet.
Albanese said while the full cabinet documentation would not be released, the solicitor general’s view would be made known through Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
“The solicitor general’s view will be made very clear by himself through the attorney-general, which is the appropriate forum for it to take,” Albanese told ABC’s 730 program on Monday night.
It was not appropriate to release cabinet documents, he added, in line with the process followed by the previous coalition government and past Labor governments.
Albanese said Dutton was raising questions and doubts “by not having any substance to his opposition” to the voice.
The Liberal Party has called for a legislated, but not constitutionally enshrined, voice process involving representative local and regional bodies.
Albanese said he had made it clear there would be local and regional bodies, which may differ across the states and territories.
He pointed to South Australia’s decision to set up a state voice.
“It’s quite clear that the national voice would work with state voices, were they to be established as well,” he said.
“So clearly, we want to hear from local communities, working the way up. But you need a national voice as well.”
Albanese said the voice would also ensure rural and remote representatives and gender balance, as well as ensure regions such as the Torres Strait were properly represented.
The final model of the voice would be legislated once and if the referendum on the voice passed later in the year.
In Alice Springs last week, Dutton said he had brought to the prime minister’s attention in October 2022 the issue of children who had been sexually abused being placed back into the hands of perpetrators.
Asked about this, Albanese told ABC he was not aware of the allegations.
“I have no idea of what it is based upon,” he added.
“It’s possible that there may well have been a letter somewhere ... but he has not raised any specific issue about any claim, about any individual circumstance with me.
“If he did, I would say to him that he should report that to the police.”
