Andrew Bolt: The Voice would promote Aboriginal ‘nation’ sovereignty

There is a hoax at the heart of the Voice and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has revealed it.

On February 13, Linda Burney blew the lid off the greatest hoax behind the Voice.

Our Indigenous Australians Minister sent out a press release confirming you’ve been lied to.

The lie is the one Prime Minister Anthony Albanese still pushes to sell his Aboriginal-only advisory parliament.

Just last Friday he again said the Voice was the “change” we needed – a body to “give advice to government on how we can get better results in Indigenous health, education and employment”.

Albanese implied no such body advised government today, claiming his Voice of 24 selected activists “will bring to Canberra the good advice… that too many politicians have overlooked for too long”.

Was Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney lying? Picture: Martin Ollman

Without it, we’d get “the same waste, the same failures”.

Except that’s a con, and Burney has exposed it.

On February 13 she announced the government had taken “the next step towards closing the gap”, with a “national agreement” on education, health, housing, domestic violence and “life outcomes’ for Aborigines.

This would bring “real change”, she burbled.

Really? So was Burney lying then, promising “real change” without a Voice, or is Albanese lying now, claiming without a Voice we’ll just get “the same failures”?

Either way, she’ll have to resign after the Voice is defeated. Albanese himself suggests she’s out of ideas.

But Burney also revealed a bigger lie in her statement, co-signed by Albanese ministers Jason Clare, Tanya Plibersek, Amanda Rishworth and Malarndirri McCarthy.

With whom had they signed this “national agreement”?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the Yes campaign trail. Picture: Martin Ollman

Fact is, it’s a lie to say governments don’t already consult Aboriginal groups.

In this case, Burney’s statement was also co-signed by Pat Turner, head of the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations and a member of the Aboriginal aristocracy that’s had a stranglehold on Aboriginal policymaking.

Indeed, the council, representing more than 70 big Aboriginal-controlled organisations, has for years made agreements with governments on closing the gap. Just like a Voice.

So the question is this: if the Albanese government already has Aboriginal groups advising it, what would a Voice do that’s different?

To me, the answer seems clear. Unlike Turner’s council, a Voice — written into the Constitution — would act as the de facto and unsackable parliament of an emerging Aboriginal “nation”, to demand sovereignty.

It would be, as Burney said in 2020. “a vehicle to negotiate a national treaty”.

That means Albanese’s claim that the Voice is just a “simple change” is the biggest lie of all.