‘Withering on the vine’: Hanson attacks Dutton’s silence on Indigenous Voice to Parliament

The One Nation leader says conservative Australians have ‘no idea’ where the Opposition Leader stands on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Firebrand Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson has lashed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for not declaring the Coalition’s position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying conservative Australians had “no idea” where he stood on the issue.

The One Nation leader, in accusing Mr Dutton of “withering on the vine”, also called on him to make Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Price the Coalition’s Indigenous Australian spokeswoman because the person currently in the role was “weak” and “pathetic”.

Australians are set to head to the polls within this term of the Albanese government and decide if they support enshrining the Voice of Indigenous people in the Constitution.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The Voice would be a body, with “perspective and power”, as outlined previously by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, that is able to have a say on laws and policies affecting Indigenous people and their communities.

It is the first reform toward Indigenous self-determination as outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Senator Hanson has previously declared she plans to make herself the face of the “no” campaign against the Voice.

She said she spoke for many Australians in wanting a clear understanding on where the Liberal Party stood on the Voice.

The Liberals view, as outlined by Mr Dutton previously, is that federal MPs and senators have a “range of views” and the party wouldn’t settle on a position until it was satisfied the government had provided enough information.

The Opposition Leader’s office was contacted but opted not to comment.

Senator Hanson said Mr Dutton should ditch MP Julian Leeser as the Coalition’s Indigenous Australians spokesman for Senator Price.

Senator Pauline Hanson has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (pictured) of ‘withering on the vine. Picture: Getty Images

She said the Warlpiri-Celtic woman was “the only person in the Coalition prepared to offer conservatives a clear, articulate and credible voice for the No campaign”.

“I thought Peter Dutton might have been a brilliant Prime Minister but for more than 150 days since he took the top job as Opposition Leader, Australians have hardly heard boo from him,” Senator Hanson said.

“And conservatives have no idea where he stands on such a serious and consequential issue like the proposed Voice.”

Cape York leader Noel Pearson, in the first of four Boyer Lectures this week, described the referendum as Australians casting a vote on “whether the nation should build its greatest bridge”.

“A bridge to unite at long last the First Peoples of this country with our British institutional inheritance and our multicultural achievement, under the Constitution,” he said.

The federal budget set aside more than $70m for administrative preparations for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament — including cash for the Australian Electoral Commission, and the National Indigenous Australians Agency.