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

Wow! Thank you for your understanding, Senator Nampijinpa Price, because, when you come from a state like Western Australia, you actually have remote communities. Senator O'Sullivan knows this because he used to do a lot of work in them. You see, that is the type of question they ask, because their voices are almost never heard. One of the questions they have asked in relation to this proposal is: how will they come and talk to my community? And what you have said is: 'Well, no-one has ever asked you.' So, on that basis, there's really no answer to the question. But it is a very legitimate question because the biggest issue that so many people in remote communities have is: is this an elitist, top-down, Canberra based voice? With your nonanswer tonight, you have confirmed exactly that. This is an elitist, top-down, Canberra based voice, and the parliament will decide how it operates. That doesn't give any comfort, particularly to the people who have come to us—and, in particular, to Senator Nampijinpa Price—and asked: 'How will my voice be heard?' The bad news for them is that, clearly, it won't. The farce, quite frankly, of this process tonight is that the government is trying to force through a massive change to our system of government on the basis of a glossy two-page brochure and a refusal or inability to answer questions.

I now turn to design principle 5: 'The Voice will be accountable and transparent'. In terms of the accountability and transparency, what is meant by 'accountability'? Who will the Voice members be accountable to? If the Voice members are accountable to their communities, how are they any different to politicians in this place?