Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In the Prime Minister's press conference yesterday, in response to a question about the scope of the Voice's powers, the Prime Minister said, 'The Voice is not about defence policy; it's not about foreign affairs policy.' Prime Minister, what other matters are excluded from the remit of the Voice?

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

Well, a learned colleague once wrote about what the Voice was about, and he said this. He wrote that Noel Pearson proposes 'a consultative body that merely provides advice. It cannot veto parliament but rather it provides greater input into the policy-making process which should lead to policy improvements and greater buy-in from Indigenous people across Australia. It is important that, if the parliament is going to make laws about Indigenous people, Indigenous people should be consulted about those laws. There is nothing incongruent about articulation of that rule of the Constitution. The Constitution is where rules for parliament are set out. In my view, the proposal for an advisory body has real merit and sits most comfortably with the nature of the Constitution. It is the kind of machinery clause that Griffith, Barton and their colleagues might have drafted, had they turned their minds to it.'

These were indeed very wise words from the member for Berowra in 2016, from Uphold & Recognise. The member for Berowra knows—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left cannot continue to shout while the Prime Minister is speaking.

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

Mr Speaker, that members of the coalition are shouting while I'm quoting the shadow minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and the shadow Attorney-General is just extraordinary.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

Government members interjecting—

Members on my right will cease interjecting. The Member for Lyons. The member for Bennelong. I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a number of previous occasions you've directed the Prime Minister back to the terms of the question—a very specific question: what other matters are excluded from the remit of the Voice? It was a question asked by somebody who's demonstrated his good-faith—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. I'll hear from the Leader of the House.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on points of order from the Manager of Opposition Business, consistently he is pulling a section of a question and pretending in the point of order that it was a whole question. It wasn't. And even if it was only that section, the Prime Minister is being relevant to the scope of the Voice.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister is referring to advice and information regarding the Voice, which the question included. I want to be clear on this. You may not like the part of the question that the Prime Minister is answering, but as long as it is relevant to the broad question, he is able to answer that way. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

The reason it is relevant to put into the context the development of the proposal to do two things—to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution and, secondly, to consult them—is that this isn't something that has come from nowhere. This is something that has been around for a considerable period of time and been the subject of considerable discourse, including from legal minds, including the shadow Attorney-General. Indeed, in the report of the Joint Select Committee, tabled in this parliament—

Seriously?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

If the Deputy Leader of the Opposition continues this, she will be warned. You cannot continue to just interject constantly. I can't be clearer than that. It's the same with the member for Groom, who is on a warning. If he says one more thing, he'll leave the chamber. The Prime Minister has the call and will be heard in silence for the remainder of his time.

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

There have been reports to this parliament. Indeed, the member for Berowra said this in his speech on the tabling of a joint select committee report in 2018, and I agree with him here:

The voice will provide a mechanism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be consulted and engaged on the policies and laws that affect them … Such a process has as its goals better social and economic policy outcomes for our First Nations people.

Opposition members interjecting—

I find it astonishing that there are interjections during an answer such as this. The fact that this has been around—

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

That is the answer. (Time expired)