National party won’t support Indigenous voice to parliament, saying it won’t close the gap
The Nationals will not support the proposal for a voice to parliament, putting a dent in hopes for bipartisan support for a referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition.
The Liberal party is still to settle its party room position on the pending referendum, but at least some members of the junior Coalition partner will campaign actively against the change.
“We’ve got to a position where we don’t believe this will genuinely close the gap, so the National party had made a position that we will not support the voice to parliament,” Nationals leader David Littleproud said on Monday afternoon.
The decision was immediately criticised by Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney, while the From The Heart campaign called it “illogical”.
Burney, said “politicians who oppose the Voice want to hold this country back.”
Littleproud was joined by almost the entire Nationals party room to announce the decision. He said the party had consulted widely with Indigenous Australians, as well as Uluru statement from the heart co-chairs Pat Anderson
and Megan Davis, in coming to the decision.
Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price, a Warlpiri woman and former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, was the only member to speak alongside Littleproud. She claimed the voice proposal would “divide us along lines of race”.
“There are Indigenous Australians who do not agree with this [the voice], who do not know what this means,” Price said.
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“Indigenous Australians are recognised. What we need now is practical measures, not an idea that lacks complete and utter detail, that’s based on emotional blackmail,” she said.
Burney and prime minister Anthony Albanese have indicated more information about the voice will be shared in the lead-up to the referendum, which is expected by the end of 2023. But the government has said the final detail of the voice, and its mechanisms, would only be settled in parliament after a successful referendum.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton has led calls for the government to provide more detail on the voice.
Price said she hoped the voice referendum would be defeated. Littleproud said the Nationals’ decision was not binding to actively campaign against the proposal, but individuals could choose how they would be involved.
“Think about those Indigenous Australians living in central Australia. They won’t have a voice, they’ll have another layer of bureaucracy that won’t shift the dial,” he said.
Queensland senator Matt Canavan tweeted shortly after: “The Voice is all about more jobs for bureaucrats in Canberra not solutions for Indigenous Australians.”
Burney posted two tweets after the Nationals press conference, urging supporters to keep working.
“We want to take Australia forward for everyone, the politicians who oppose the Voice want to hold this country back. The Voice is about improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Better policies will be made when our people are heard,” she said.
“People from across politics have worked on recognition for years. Let’s move Australia forward, together.”
Labor MP Justine Elliot, the assistant minister for social services, commented on the Nationals’ decision by tweeting “shame on them”.
Dean Parkin, director of the From the Heart group campaigning for the voice, slammed the Nationals.
“Today’s decision of the National federal partyroom to oppose constitutional recognition through a voice to parliament is rash, illogical, and dismissive of the overwhelming will of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reflected in a vast survey published by Reconciliation Australia last week,” he said.
“The Nationals have taken a position that is vastly out of step with Australians, who understand that constitutional recognition through a voice to parliament is a simple and effective way to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a direct say over laws and policies that affect them.”
Greens senator Barbara Pocock, speaking on ABC television as the Nationals press conference was ongoing, called the party’s decision “incredibly disappointing”.
“They had an opportunity to narrow the gap, they missed it. Now they’re hiding behind that lack of movement to say they won’t support the voice because of lack of progress on the gap,” she said.
Also on Friday, the Australian Electoral Commission said it would be “pulling out all the stops” in a new enrolment drive for Indigenous voters called “Our Vote, Our Future”, ahead of the referendum.
The AEC will streamline enrolment processes for people who don’t have identification documents, allowing enrolled voters to vouch for unenrolled voters.
The electoral commission says that despite Indigenous enrolment being its highest on record (nearly 82%), it estimates there are more than 100,000 Indigenous Australians who are not on the roll.