Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Everything you have just said confirms the exact point that I'm making in relation to section 129(i):

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

(i) there shall be a body …

The only guidance we are given here is that 'there shall be a body' and that the body is going to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It is then up to the parliament—the democratically elected parliament, as you said—to determine what this body will actually do. And you've already stated or admitted earlier today that the design principles do not need to be followed because it is for the democratically elected parliament to determine what this body will actually do. So I ask you: if the parliament were to enact legislation, declaring that a single person was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, would that satisfy the requirements of section 129(i)? I'm not asking about what the government's intention is by way of the design principles; I am asking for the legal interpretation—and you've got your lawyers there—as to whether or not declaring a single person is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice legally satisfies section 129(i).