No veto power in Voice proposal
A PROPOSED Indigenous Voice will not have the power to veto parliament, Linda Burney has confirmed.
But the Indigenous Australians Minister has declined to outline any further details, saying she did not want to “get ahead” of the working groups tasked with the proposal’s consultation.
“I have been involved in Aboriginal affairs for over 40 years, and I know the importance of consultation. I know the importance of listening to people,” Ms Burney told ABC’s Insiders.
“And at the end of the day this referendum is not about what politicians do or don’t do. It’s about what the Australian people believe in and I have faith in the Australian people.”
She assured further details would be released closer to the referendum, which is expected within the next financial year.
The two groups – one including professors Tom Calma and Marcia Langton and the architects of the Uluru Statement, Megan Davis, Pat Anderson and Noel Pearson, and a group of 61 First Nations people from across Australia – are doing the consulting.
Labor has not revealed whether it intends to adopt the model proposed by professors Calma and Langton in their co-design report handed to the previous government.
“The Calma Langton report is absolutely fundamental, obviously, to what will be the final design of the Voice. It's not the only report,” she said.
However, Ms Burney did confirm the body would not have the power to veto Bills.
“It will not have a veto right of the parliament and it is advisory, and it will also not have a program delivery function,” she said.
The comments come days after the Nationals dashed the government’s hopes of bipartisan support for the referendum.
NSW Treasurer Matt Kean told Sky News he was disappointed the Nationals had announced their opposition before the detail was released.