Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

They need to coordinate their discussions about this, maybe in their tactics committee, because the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, just a very short period of time ago, on the 23 July, said this about legislation: 'All legislation requires exposure drafts. It requires conversations. It requires debate. It will include all the things that actually produce good legislation at the end of the process, and that's what I want to see.' That's what his deputy said not last year but last month—just a fortnight ago. That's what the Deputy Leader of the Opposition had to say. They are simply not being fair dinkum. The conspiracy theories are colliding with each other.

If they think the Voice is a bad idea, why are they going to legislate it? If they think they have the right idea for the structure of the Voice, why aren't they tabling their legislation—or why didn't they—over all that period? Of course, Ken Wyatt, the former minister for Indigenous Australians and, indeed, the former member of the Liberal Party, had this to say. He said that he took the Calma-Langton work to the cabinet, which the Leader of the Opposition was in, not once but twice, but nothing happened. The fact is that the Leader of the Opposition thought that saying sorry would be the end of the world. Now he thinks listening to the people will be the end of democracy.

This is an opportunity to lift the country up, and I urge Australians to vote 'yes' in the last quarter of this year. (Time expired)

See this speech in context