Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Prime Minister told parliament that the 'apology to the stolen generation will never be forgotten'. Yet John Howard's government, the government the Prime Minister was a member of, spent years opposed to an apology to the stolen generations. Will the Prime Minister avoid the mistakes of the past, proudly stand on the right side of history and reconsider his opposition to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and an Indigenous voice to parliament?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The position that the government has taken and that I've expressed is that we do not support entrenching in the Constitution a national representative assembly that only Indigenous Australians can vote for or be elected to. We take the view that every one of our national elected representative institutions should be open to every Australian citizen. We believe that is a fundamental part of our democracy and the rule of law.

The reality is that if the policy that the opposition has now adopted were to be carried out, if that referendum proposal were to be put up and if it were to succeed—and I have no doubt that it would fail—that national representative assembly, elected by and composed only of Indigenous Australians as an advisor to this parliament on matters affecting Indigenous Australians, would constitute, in effect, a third chamber of this parliament.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left!

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition can shout as much as they like, but the reality is: there is not one bill that goes through this parliament that does not impact on and affect Indigenous Australians. The scope of that third chamber would get wider and wider, and a fundamental principle of our democracy would have been abrogated. The coalition will not support it. If the Labor Party want to advocate that at the election—and it appears they do—we will let the Australian people decide.