Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I would not agree with that characterisation, Senator Hume. Your previous question was based around what we would do if a different topic were the subject of the referendum. I answered as honestly as I could that I am not sure, and I don't know what we might do in some future referendum.

Our objective here—and I have repeated it so many times today—is to try and get the referendum experience for the Australian people to be as close to a general election as we can. We took a deliberate policy decision not to do what you have been seeking. I have explained to you time and time again that we have made that decision. What we would do in respect of some future referendum, given how hard it's been to get this particular bill through the parliament, I don't know. We would have to look at that and see what we might do. We've made a policy decision that civil society can run these campaigns—they run them free of any political interference—and I'm hopeful that at the end of that process the Australian people vote for an Indigenous voice in the parliament.