Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

No matter where you stand on the substantive issue that will be put to Australians sometime later this year, getting this bill right will actually affirm this chamber's beliefs in some principles that underpin our democracy. We're all democrats, I hope—with a small 'd', Senator Paterson. Hopefully, everybody who participates in the parliamentary and political process in our country believes in the sovereign will of the Australian people, because it is only by the exercise of that sovereign will of the Australian people that the diversity of the Senate chamber exists as it does. All the different political philosophies and ideologies that form this chamber are as a result of the reflection of the sovereign will of the Australian people.

Changing our founding document, the Constitution of Australia, is a very serious business. It's not something to be taken lightly. It's not some frippery. It's not something to get all emotional and warm and fuzzy about and just tick the box. It is a serious venture. That is why Australian people have been very reluctant to change that very simple document that underpins how we run this place and the great institutions that have meant we've stayed free and open for the last 123 years. When we come to changing that document and to this bill before us, there are things like the 'yes' and 'no' committee and things like making sure Australians come to that question not with social media or their Instagram account informing them but with some serious understanding of the substantive question before them—both sides. The reality is most Australians aren't deeply engaged on this issue and the question in and of itself. And so the only decent thing, the only responsible thing, for us as legislators to do is make sure, if we really respect their sovereign will and are not rushing down a road to corral and coerce the Australian people into a certain view, that they go to that ballot box with a full understanding to exercise that sovereign will.

The fact that the government has agreed, after much pressure, to have a pamphlet outlining both the 'yes' case and the 'no' case to every Australian means that, whether they live in capital cities like Brisbane or whether they live in Indigenous communities like Santa Teresa, they will have the 'yes' and the 'no' proposition before them and they will be able to confidently walk into that ballot box and exercise their sovereign will. What comes out of that will be as it should be, and we will all need to respect that decision.

But the Labor Party, the government, put a bill before us that didn't have a 'yes' and 'no' pamphlet in it. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make this fair. It doesn't have equal funding for both sides of the campaign, so the rich and powerful—big sport, big business, multinationals and people that see that there is some political or economic advantage for them to support whatever the substantive question is later on down the track—will actually be able to pour millions of dollars into an economic outcome, and, instead of it being a reflection of the will of the Australian people, it will actually be a perverse outcome because it will have been garnered from those who seek to profit from promoting a certain view over another.

We happen to be a very egalitarian society. That's why governments in the past have funded both the 'yes' and the 'no' cases equally for whatever question it is. It was so that Australians could have confidence that it was not a partisan issue and that the government really believed that they were sovereign under our Constitution. So that's been concerning.

The fact is that the government haven't set up the official campaigns. They are happy for this to all be a bit loose and all a bit opaque because it suits them. With Australians starting to understand this question and starting to see that serious Indigenous academics themselves have competing views about what this body should look like and what the substantive question should be it's getting a bit rubbery and a bit concerning. The big legacy project for the Prime Minister is actually looking a little shaky. It looks a little like an albatross around his neck. That's concerning because those of us who have been around this space a little while are very, very committed to reconciliation and to closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in this country, but this is a separate question before us. The bill itself is about making it a fair and democratic process, and that is not what they have done here. They have tried to rig the results and they have been exposed for it. They have been exposed for trying to rig the results for the Australian people.

So I am looking forward to the government's amendment that will actually include the pamphlet outlining clearly for the Australian people the 'yes' and 'no' cases. I'm making sure they recommit to that. I call on them in the name of fairness, democracy and egalitarianism to commit to official 'yes' and 'no' campaigns and equal funding. It's not too late to draft amendments to their own legislation. Lord knows it is changing at a rate of knots, and I'm sure it won't be the last thing to change in this debate.

I saw some Labor senators mocking my stated commitment to reconciliation and closing the gap. I was actually the minister who negotiated the Barkly Regional Deal after the rape of a two-year-old in Tennant Creek. I actually sat down with the Gunner government and the Tennant Creek Regional Council to put forward a whole body of work—$78 million for infrastructure projects agreed between three levels of government to deal with what are systemic issues in that community. No-one can go up there, sit and talk to people in these communities and not be impacted by our roles and responsibilities in this place. Whether you sit on this side of the chamber, down in the back stalls, or have the privilege of government, this has to change.

The saddest thing for me, as the minister who negotiated that, was when I sat down and actually talked to the people who were dealing with these issues, day in, day out, and hearing that, yes, you can build a new skate park, put some lighting up and some boarding facilities, but what we really need to do is to map the service provision by local government, private providers, the Territory government and the Commonwealth. That's mapping what each service provider is actually doing, find the gaps and filling them. There was a lot of duplication and a lot of gaps. I said, 'Okay, that sounds like a smart thing to do.' Out of the $78 million they said about $800,000 and that it was going to take a couple of years. When you go through the list of projects under the Barkly Regional Deal, the one thing that hasn't been done is the one thing that the people on the ground said would make a difference. That's an indictment on all of us who sat there and said that we would change this. So we can talk about symbolism over substance—and I'll have much more to say about that when we debate the substantive issue.

As I said, changing the Constitution, our founding document in this country, is incredibly hard. We don't do it lightly, and to be so divided now would show that the Labor Party needs to appreciate that Australians want to have confidence in the process and the journey that they have taken us on. They don't, and it's decreasing every day because they've rushed this. They haven't gone to the heart of core principles around the mechanics for referenda. Be fair: people expect the Australian government to be fair, to give them the information they need and to fund both sides to make sure there's an official case, so that foreign interference doesn't play a role in this referendum. People want donations to be tracked so that we actually know who was funded for what, and by how much. Without an official campaign, we won't know who is paying who. Who is actually rigging the results here?

All that leads to a lack of confidence, not just in the government's ability, or trust and faith in the sovereign will of the Australian people, but to a level of mistrust in the institutions of government itself: the Senate, the House of Representatives, the cabinet and the ministry. I think that all of us are better served if Australians trust us more to have their best interests at heart and also know that we trust them to make the right decision, whatever that may be. They're sovereign entities: give them the information and they will make their decision, whatever it is. We actually have a responsibility to back that.

I think that, at a time when fake news is rampant around global society, for the government to remove those provisions for an impartial and trusted source of information for the consideration of the Australian people goes to the heart of it. So we welcome the pamphlet, and I look forward to voting for that amendment. But it must be without caveat. A deal is a deal, unless this is going to be another backflip by Prime Minister Albanese and his government. Those opposite stated publicly that they would do a pamphlet, and that was without caveat. I know that there's a whole range of amendments to this bill and that we'll work our way through this as a chamber over the coming days, but Labor has to walk the walk. It's tough to be in government; you can't say one thing one day and backflip the next.

Unfortunately, over the last few months we've seen a few backflips. We've seen a few broken promises. But, on something as important as changing our founding document, you've got to square up, give Australians the information they need, fund both cases equally and have the official committees so that we know where the funding and donations are going and we can actually have more confidence out in the broader community. Then they can make their own minds up.

I will reserve my right on the bill, to see what the final bill looks like after this chamber has its deliberations around amendments. We support Australians' right to vote. I support their sovereign will, and I will respect whatever that is, come the time. But I am absolutely committed to them being able to have information, so they can make an informed choice and so that we don't rig the results to make sure one side has more money flowing into it than the another. I support fairness and egalitarianism, because I am a small d democrat, and this is an important conversation that our community is going to have over the coming months. I want it to be fair.