Aboriginal elder Uncle Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu criticises the voice, Albanese

A senior Tiwi Islands Aboriginal elder has lashed the voice to parliament proposal and taken aim at the Prime Minister.

A senior Tiwi Islands elder has slammed the Indigenous voice to parliament and launched a stinging attack on Anthony Albanese for what he says is a failure to consult Aboriginal communities on the proposal.

The voice, set to go to a referendum later this year, will enshrine the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Constitution if successful.

In March the Prime Minister revealed the wording of the referendum question and made an impassioned plea to all Australians to support the voice.

But Uncle Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu said Aboriginal people on the Tiwi Islands were “completely confused” due to a lack of consultation.

‘There has been no consultation with the Tiwi Islands,’ say Francis Xavier Kurrupuwu.

“We haven’t been told anything,” he said. “It’s disgraceful.”

“They say what they want to say without any consultation in the community.”

Uncle Francis Xavier said there had not been one information session or flyer handed out to the community, describing the situation as “shocking”.

He said politicians needed to meet with remote communities, noting no federal Labor minister had travelled to the Tiwi Islands since being elected to government.

“We want to meet Mr Albanese,” he said.

An aerial view of Rainbow Beach on the Tiwi Islands. Picture: Tourism NT

“I expect them to be on the ground, they need to be consulting at a grassroots level. I’ve been involved in organisations and it is the same old thing. We are still left in the darkness as Aboriginal people in the Territory. I don’t think that will change.”

He described the situation as similar to Santos’ relationship with the Tiwi Islands.

In September last year Tiwi Islanders won a landmark case against Santos, arguing the company failed to consult them about the impact of a gas project in traditional waters.

Linda Burney and Anthony Albanese attend the Inner West BBQ for the voice to parliament at Petersham Park in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Uncle Francis Xavier said he would not be voting for the voice simply because he did not think it would lead to tangible improvements for Aboriginal people in “education, health and employment”.

And he is no stranger to politics.

He was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2016 elected as a Country Liberal Party member but quit the party in April 2014 to sit as an independent.

He briefly joined the Palmer United Party before returning to the CLP in September 2014.

Uncle Francis Xavier once stood for Labor preselection but switched sides to the Country Liberals after losing faith in progressive politics..

A spokesman for the Tiwi Land Council told news.com.au it had yet to develop a formal position on the voice but said they expected information sessions to be held on the Tiwi Islands later in the year.

Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour, whose electorate includes the Tiwi Islands, rejected the criticism telling news.com.au that there was a “great deal of detailed information about the voice available, how it came out of the Statement from The Heart, which itself came from a process involving consultations with thousands of Aboriginal people”.

Malarndirri McCarthy, Pat Anderson, Linda Burney and Marion Scrymgour arrive to address the media in Canberra in March. Picture: Getty Images

“To say there has been no consultation or information is like saying there’s no water in the sea.” Ms Scrymgour said.

“As the voice campaign rolls out we will be getting out to more remote communities to have conversations face-to-face. I have recently been out to Tiwi and talked to people about the voice and will be there again next week.”

The Tiwi Islands, 80km north of Darwin, is known as one of the most beautiful places on earth comprising of Melville Island, Bathurst Island and nine smaller uninhabited islands.

They are home to roughly 2600 people with 86 per cent of the population Aboriginal.

The voice referendum question

Later this year, Australians will be asked in a referendum: “A Proposed Law: to alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

If a majority of Australians vote in favour of the voice, the Constitution would be amended as follows:

1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice;

2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice may make representations to the parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

3. The parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, including its composition, functions powers and procedures.

Noel Pearson. Picture: Sean Davey

Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Dutton opposes

Unlike federal Labor which has committed to the voice, the Liberal Party will campaign for the “no case” but allow backbenchers a conscience vote.

The position, which was reached following a lengthy party room meeting, will require frontbenchers who support the proposal to resign or fall into line and back the Coalition position.

“I don’t think this is in our country’s best interest,” Opposition leader Peter Dutton said. “I have spent literally months, like many Australians, trying to understand what it is the prime minister is proposing.

“We cannot get the basic details out of them. We think it is deliberate. We are waiting, waiting for advice.”

Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Julian Leeser resigned this week from the Liberal frontbench over the party’s opposition to the voice.

While Indigenous leader Noel Pearson unleashed on Mr Dutton over the position in an extraordinary rant on radio this month describing it as the “Judas betrayal of our country”.

Mr Pearson, a Cape York Indigenous leader and one of the architects of the Uluru statement, compared the opposition leader to an “undertaker” burying the Uluru statement.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,’’ he told ABC Radio.

“I was troubled by dreams and the spectre of darkness, the Liberal Party’s Judas betrayal of our country.

“They’ve had 11 years of power to work on a proper proposal for recognition.”

– with Sam Maiden, Catie McLeod, Ellen Ransley and Courtney Gould