Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Preventing Family Violence) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party joins the Independents and the government in tabling this report. The Labor Party recognises and accepts fully the Statement from the Heart from Uluru and believes that constitutional reform is a great priority for Australia. We believe that there is a very real need for further consultation and discussion with Indigenous people to design the voice, design the timing and also design the question that will be put to the Australian people in a referendum. We're also very committed to having a referendum in the first term of our government, if we are afforded the great privilege of being elected.

We have focused in this committee, as the member for Berowra said, on what we could agree on, not what we disagreed on, and that was very important. We'll be using the old ATSIC regional boundaries as the basis for discussions going forward in the co-design of the referendum and the voice to the parliament. We on this side of the House also accept very much the need for a makarrata commission and a national truth-telling process, which has formed part of the way forward. I join with all my colleagues who have participated in this in very good faith.

Debate adjourned.

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