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

So what is this about? The big distinction here and all of this fearmongering is about whether the existence of a voice—a body—should be enshrined in the Constitution. But within that the other clauses are very clear as well on what the Australian people will vote for.

The first thing is:

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

That's the recognition. Then it says, 'There shall be a body'—the voice. The second bit is, 'The voice may give advice on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.' The third is the primacy of the parliament over the functions, procedures and composition of the Voice. That will be ongoing. That is the clause that is absolutely critical to ensure the primacy of this parliament going forward, yet those opposite are incapable of saying yes.

The referendum is about something very simple: recognition and listening. The Voice is an advisory body only. It does not have a right of veto. It's not a funding body. It won't run programs. What it will be able to do is give advice to parliament and to government in order to get better results. If you keep doing the same thing, you should expect the same outcomes. We have an eight-year life expectancy gap. Indigenous young men are more likely to go to jail than to go to university. An Indigenous young woman is more likely to die in childbirth than a non-Indigenous woman.

There used to be a moderate wing of the Liberal Party. Now there are some brave people who are out there, to their great credit, showing courage, but instead of a moderate wing you now have people who will say to you in private that they support a voice and they hope 'yes' gets up, but they cannot, in the modern Liberal Party and what it's become—a reactionary party, a party with nothing that is liberal and certainly a party that is not conservative either, as it trashes our institutions. (Time expired)

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