Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out legislating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament if the referendum fails next weekend.
Australians are being asked to vote on enshrining a First Nations advisory body in the constitution.
“If Australians vote No, I don’t believe it would be appropriate to then go and say ‘oh well, you’ve had your say but we’re going to legislate anyway’,” he told Insiders.
“What we will do is respect the outcome of the referendum.”
The Voice would be an advisory body with no power to veto government decisions. It wouldn’t allocate or oversee funding programs but would offer advice to the government and the federal parliament about matters that affect Indigenous Australians.
Legislating a Voice to Parliament would mean a future government of the day could abolish the body. Enshrining it in the constitution, which can only be achieved by a referendum, means the body is permanent. It would require another referendum to abolish it.
For a referendum to be successful, it needs a double majority. That means a majority of voters and a majority of the states, meaning at least four, voting in Yes.
Polling trends indicate the No vote is likely to succeed on October 14.
“Indigenous Australians have said they want a Voice that’s enshrined,” Mr Albanese said.
“What they don’t want to do is what they have done time and time again, which is to be a part of establishing representative organisations only to see, for opportunistic reasons, a government to come in and abolish it.
“All of that social capital, that investment of their heart and soul ripped away so many times and that is what this referendum is about. It is about listening.”
Both Coalition and Labor governments have abolished Indigenous advisory bodies.
Mr Albanese on Saturday cast his vote in Australia’s first referendum in more than 20 years.
Speaking on Sunday, he was reluctant to be drawn on what it would say about Australia if the No vote was successful.
“I am hoping we vote Yes because the debate here is whether Australia will enlarge ourselves,” he said.
“Whether a country that looks for hope and optimism and for the future or whether we shrink in on ourselves.”
Coalition campaigning against Voice
The Coalition has been campaigning against the Voice to Parliament.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to hold another referendum, if the Coalition wins the next election, to recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution but not the Voice.
The Coalition supports “regional and local Voices” instead of a federal Voice.
When asked on Sky News if the Coalition still supported legislating regional and local Voices, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley replied “absolutely”.
The Coalition had the policy of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians but didn’t deliver it when it was in power for almost a decade.
“Of course we want to see that recognition, we want to see the country come together,” she said on Sunday morning.
“We don’t believe that pushing ahead with this divisive Voice has been anything but against the interest of closing the gap, of bringing all Australians together, but most importantly making sure that outcomes for our First Australians improve.”
(ABC)
