Albanese says critics of the Voice to parliament ‘trying to start a culture war’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will link the growing international wave of misinformation to the campaign against the Indigenous Voice to parliament, saying he is optimistic Australians will look past a confected culture war and support the referendum.

In an attempt to discredit his critics, Albanese will on Sunday claim that democracy is under threat, saying that Australia needs to heed the lessons from events such as the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the recent riots in Brazil.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will on Sunday declare the referendum is not about the mechanics of how the Voice will operate.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“Democracy can never be taken for granted. It needs to be nourished, protected, cared for, treated with respect,” he will say in a speech to the Chifley Research Centre conference in Canberra.

Albanese will say that people on social media are already pushing misinformation about the Voice, “drumming up outrage, trying to start a culture war”.

“That’s an inevitable consequence of trying to achieve change,” he said. “There are always those who want to create confusion and provoke division, to try and stall progress.”

But Albanese will say big moments like this year’s referendum are also an “opportunity for our people to show their best qualities: their generosity, their sense of fairness, their optimism for the future”.

“That’s why I’m optimistic for the success of the referendum – because I’ve always been optimistic about the character of the Australian people.”

A recent poll for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald showed Australians’ support for an Indigenous Voice to parliament is far from unanimous, and has fallen from 53 to 47 per cent. The Resolve Political Monitor survey found 60 per cent of voters would back the Voice if forced to answer only Yes or No in a choice akin to a referendum, down from 64 per cent over four months.

The speech comes ahead of federal parliament returning for the year on Monday, with the government to introduce a suite of legislation including a boost to paid parental leave and a bill to implement the recommendations of the Bell inquiry into Scott Morrison’s secret ministries scandal.

A bill to help essential workers and vulnerable Australians find housing through a $10 billion fund will also be introduced to parliament in the coming fortnight, according to multiple government sources.

The government will introduce legislation to parliament in March setting up the referendum on the Voice, after it receives the final recommendations from an Indigenous working group advising it on the wording of the referendum question and the constitutional amendment.

The government aims to pass the legislation by June, with a public vote to be set sometime between September and December.

‘There are always those who want to create confusion and provoke division, to try and stall progress.’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

After pressuring the government for weeks over a “lack of detail” on the Voice, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to use the return of parliament to switch to cost-of-living issues such as power prices and interest rates.

Albanese has over the past week changed his approach to responding to the calls for more detail, conceding that many of the questions will be a matter for parliament after the public vote.

Previously he was referring to a 250-page report by Indigenous academics Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, which the government has not adopted as its policy.

In his speech on Sunday, Albanese will say it is important to focus on the two principles of “recognition” and “consultation” – not the mechanics of how the Voice will operate.

“The mechanics of the Voice won’t be written into the Constitution,” the prime minister will say.

Citing the example of the Constitution giving the power to the Commonwealth to make laws for the defence of the country, Albanese will point out that the founding document “doesn’t spell out the size of the ADF, or where it should be based or what sort of defence hardware we should have”.

Labor senator and Aboriginal elder Pat Dodson.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Following the lead of the people who drafted the Constitution, Albanese will say the government must be prepared to put its faith in the judgment of the Australian people.

“They believed in the Constitution’s pivotal role in our democracy. But they didn’t imagine it was perfect, complete, the final word set in stone,” he will say.

“That’s why they included specific and detailed provision for altering it.

“Yes, they set the bar high: a majority of voters and a majority of states. But the architects of our federation understood that democracy is dynamic, not static.”

Building on the 1967 referendum, which recognised Indigenous Australians as being part of the population, Albanese will say this year’s referendum would be an opportunity “not to remove something negative, but to add something positive”.

Labor senator and Aboriginal elder Pat Dodson on Saturday warned Australians won’t get another chance at reconciliation for another generation if the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament fails, urging Dutton to back the referendum.

Dodson said he had previously committed to not attacking opponents of the Voice because “they are entitled to their opinions, as wrongheaded as they might be” but “let me tell you, with so much nonsense and mischief being peddled out there – there have been times where it’s been hard to hold my tongue”.

“There are some out there who are pressing for more detail,” Dodson said. “They will never get enough ... Our political process is in the parliament, and that’s where the detail is always settled and proposed. So don’t get distracted by the call for more detail.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.