No Voice power of veto
Burney adamant proposed body only ‘advisory’
A PROPOSED Indigenous Voice will not have the power to veto parliament, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has confirmed.
But Ms Burney has declined to outline any further details about the body, insisting that 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.”
Ms Burney assured that further details would be released closer to the referendum, which is expected within the next financial year.
Two First Nations groups include the working group, which includes Professors Tom Calma and Marcia Langton and the original architects of the Uluru Statement, Megan Davis, Pat Anderson and Noel Pearson, and an engagement group of 61 First Nations people from across Australia.
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.
But Ms Burney confirmed the body would not have the power to veto Bills before the parliament. “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.
Asked if every Bill before the parliament would include a statement on whether the Voice was consulted, Ms Burney said there was “no question” it would, if it affected First Nations people.
But it would be up to the working group to “ventilate” if the Voice needed to provide a statement on every single Bill before parliament.
Ms Burney’s comments come just days after the Nationals dashed the government’s hopes of bipartisan support for the referendum by announcing their opposition to the proposal. NSW Treasurer and Liberal moderate Matt Kean told Sky News on Sunday he was disappointed the Nationals had announced their opposition before the final detail was released.