The Liberal Party will formally oppose the government’s model for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Federal MPs decided at a meeting in Canberra on Wednesday the party would support constitutional recognition for First Nations peoples, but not a constitutionally enshrined Voice.
The Liberal Party would propose a legislated Voice model focusing on local and regional voices, rather than the constitutionally enshrined model proposed by the government, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said. He will grant backbenchers a conscience vote on the legislation.
“There was a resounding ‘no’ to the prime minister’s ‘Canberra Voice’,” Dutton told reporters after a party meeting.
“It should be very clear to Australians by now that the prime minister is dividing our country and the Liberal Party seeks to unite our country.
“We want to make sure that we can get the best possible outcomes for Indigenous Australians and we do that through recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution and by providing for their say, their voice to be heard by the government in a very clear way — but at a local level.”
Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley said “today is not a ‘no’ from the Liberal Party — it’s a day of many yeses”.
Prior to the meeting, former Coalition Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt, the first Aboriginal person chosen for that position, warned the party would “pay the consequences in the future” if it became out of touch with voters.
“Parties can no longer ignore the will of people because social media has a profound impact in informing people on [the] fairness they want within Australian society,” he told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
A poll published in The Australian showed a majority of Australians in a majority of states support the Voice, meaning it would succeed if held today.
The Newspoll showed 54% of Australian voters support constitutional recognition and an Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, and 38% are opposed. Queensland was the only state where a majority of respondents didn’t support the proposal. Younger voters were more likely to support the Voice, and the only age group where more respondents were opposed than in support was people aged over 65.
Dutton had called the partyroom meeting to “rally the troops and endorse a position opposing the Albanese government’s Voice referendum model and constitutional amendment”, The Australian reported.
It comes after the Liberals lost the seat of Aston at the weekend in a once-in-a-century byelection fiasco.
A bill introduced last week — marking the first formal step towards holding the referendum — is before a joint parliamentary committee and is likely to be voted on in June.
Some Liberals, including legal affairs and Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser, want the party to back constitutional recognition for First Nations peoples but remove a part of the proposed amendment that would allow the Voice to advise Parliament and the executive government.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for “the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the constitution”.
The Nationals confirmed in November that they would oppose the Voice.
It must be like chewing bricks for Dutton to acknowledge that the Australian people actually agree with the “Voice” proposition.
It goes against the grain of everything he believes.
Having exhausted the “More Details!” distraction, his only option is to try and come up with some alternative that pursues the same red-herring but avoids following his natural instinct to oppose it altogether.
Watching him tie himself in knots pretending to care while simultaneously giving the wink to his “base” is a constant pleasure……………..
I find it singularly apt that they refer to their goons as their “base”………. both meanings apply.
So now we know the “final” position……….. of at least some of the Noalition.
Yet again Bridget Archer is the honourable exception (with apparently some colleagues).
It is beyond laughable that Dutton & The Incompetents should attempt to cast themselves as the heroic defenders of the REAL Voice, and champions of “Closing The Gap”………..
………..having done precisely bugger-all during their nine years in Government, they now expect us to swallow this drivel.
Apparently they took a “Constitutional Recognition, Regional Voice” policy to the election, which is what they are sticking with…………
……….their comprehensive flogging in said election having apparently escaped their notice.
It is yet another example of just how disconnected from reality they are.
Dutton and the Incompetents sounds like a boy band. I like it.
Successors to the incomparable “Morrison & The Incompetents” whose string of nationwide hits is without equal……….
……….until they lost their lead singer in a most unfortunate manner.
Who could ever forget the pounding, ceaseless rhythm of “Robodebt Blues”………..
…………or the intriguing lyrics of “Don’t see no Sports Rorts aroun’ here, brutha”
I have heard that the previous lead singer may be heading off to Cuba in the near future.
Tonight I am writing an email to Bridget Archer thanking her for this decision and her ethical practice in general. I hope others do so too.
Done.
Bridget Archer should be classed as an honorary teal. She’s not really one of them!
Well, they’ve decided not to support the voice and they will not allow front benchers a conscience vote, apparently.
The LNP – on the wrong side of history and sliding into oblivion.
I’m dreading the feral nastiness of no vote supporters.
Maybe there’s a legitimate case for the ‘No’ vote, maybe there isn’t, but does anyone really believe that Dutton’s current posturing is anything more than negativity for negativity’s sake?
And they confirm this posture just four days after one of the most remarkable electoral loses of the last century.
This mob just seems to be constitutionally incapable of learning from experience.
If there is a legitimate case for No, I wish people would just put it instead of lies, furphies and blatant racism. So far, the only legitimate argument I have heard is that it can only advise, and given Australia’s history, how can we trust that any more than a few parliamentarians will listen.
How could it do more than advise?
Given our system, I don’t know BUT I understand the powerlessness argument, especially as politicians have almost always acted in bad faith. Although I fear that many politicians will continue to act with bad faith, I do trust people like Pat Anderson and Megan Davis and Marcia Langton when they say this advisory Voice is the best chance we’ve ever had of genuinely positive policy development and implementation.
In deciding to vote No, I think the Libs and Nats are telling us that they have absolutely no intention of ever listening to advice with an open mind or accepting advice.
The Nationals, who are natural racists, were first out of the blocks months ago. I still remember Tim Fischer, who was usually a decent bloke, talking about “ bucket loads of extinguishment.”As for Dutton the enforcer it’s”deja vu all over again.”
If Dutton had just shut up and waited until Albanese finished stating the ‘yes’ case and then responded ‘no’ to it, the Libs’ stance might have had some credibility (even if most of us rejected it). As it was, by constantly demanding more detail before Albanese had time to provide it, the ‘no’ decision that was finally announced today comes across as the predictable outcome of a political strategy which was determined before the question was even aired: opportunistic, cynical and most hypocritically (given Dutton’s criticism of Albanese today) designed to divide the Australian public and thereby lead to the referendum being defeated.
‘Honest’ Pete in the same sense as ‘Honest John’, maybe?
Agree with your analysis.
Especially when, the government was to give said detail in parliament, the ‘want-more-detail’ rabble ran for the door or didn’t bother turning up at all. Hypocrisy writ large.
Agreed, Woke Woman.
I’ll be voting yes with reservations, because I’m so afraid the Voice will find itself facing the heartbreak of speaking to willfully deaf parliamentarians and the rest of Australia will be too busy patting itself on the back to even notice.
Nonetheless, as I said, I will be voting yes.
I read the coverage on the launch of the No case in Tamworth and it was a vile turn out. The welcome to country was cut off to introduce Pauline Hanson. Junk assimilationist arguments were trotted out, 4 farks sake!
If Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce and Alan Jones are supporting the No case it can’t have anything going for it
Just read the High Court Judges and constitutional lawyers analysis why a No vote – unless you belong to the group who hold there is no legitimate case then don’t bother reading anything
I have been listening to those people and so far opinion is in favour of a Yes vote.
And responses to the No arguments have been utterly persuasive.
Surely after 230+ effing years we will condescend to give the Aboriginal people a few morsels of hope!
It’s great to see the Liberals sticking to their guns here. It would be terrible to see them reform their ways and reverse their rapid decline into irrelevance and oblivion.
Yeah nah someone *is* dividing the country – but it isn’t the government.