Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

As everyone in this chamber knows and understands, the 2023 referendum is about constitutional recognition through a Voice, and Australians will be asked a simple question: do you support a change to the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice? Let's be clear about what the Voice is. The Voice will be a committee of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will give advice to parliament and government on issues that affect their community. It will include Indigenous Australians from every state and territory and the Torres Strait Islands and representatives from the regions and remote areas. That is the question that will be put to the Australian people later this year. It is about constitutional recognition through a Voice to parliament. It is interesting, again, that those who are opposing this very simple question and generous offer are seeking to conflate a whole range of other matters in their opposition to the Voice referendum.