Voice opponent Darren Chester joins opposition frontbench, replacing Gee

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has elevated National Party moderate Darren Chester to his frontbench, replacing Andrew Gee, a proponent of a constitutionally recognised Indigenous Voice to parliament with an opponent.

Chester, a former minister and critic of former party leader Barnaby Joyce, will fill the gap created by Gee, who quit the National Party last month in protest of its decision to support the “no” case in the upcoming referendum on a consultative body for Indigenous Australians.

Nationals MP Darren Chester has joined the opposition frontbench.Credit: Simon Schluter

Chester will become the shadow minister for regional education, regional development, and local government and territories. Gee’s other portfolio, the more junior assistant portfolio regional health, has been taken over by Dr Anne Webster, the member for Mallee.

The member for Gippsland is one of the most senior federal members of the Victorian Nationals, whose local leadership has distanced itself from its federal leadership occasionaly by taking more progressive stances on issues including climate change mitigation.

Chester, who in 2015 became the first Nationals MP to support same-sex marriage, said he was not against the concept of a body such as the Voice but believed it was a “step too far” to enshrine this body in the constitution.

“They could easily legislate something and call it the Voice,” he said.

Arguing the government was acting like a car salesman who declined to provide crucial information until after a transaction, Chester told this masthead voters were “being asked to vote for a vibe”.

“Provide some more meat around the bones and people may be able to form a view ... reasonable minds could come to different conclusions on this issue.

“I fear this concept of forming the Voice will actually become quite divisive in the months ahead.”

National Party leader David Littleproud said Chester would focus on policy issues such as childcare access and education attainment in the regions, while Dutton said the appointments would strengthen his team.

Peter Dutton addressing the media from Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I thank my Coalition team for their hard work and their unity in holding the government to account,” Dutton said in a written statement.

“I can assure all Australians that the Coalition will continue to focus on delivering positive plans and policies for the future of our country in 2023 and in the lead-up to the next election.”

Chester has been demoted and promoted multiple times as a result of his rivalry with Joyce. The Victorian MP challenged Joyce for the party leadership after the election but lost to Littleproud, who Chester said he had “zero” bad blood with.

Dutton and his Liberal Party have not yet made a call on whether to campaign for or against the Voice, or allow MPs to campaign according to their views, and also whether they will back the legislation that will enable the referendum to take place.

Despite having previously broken ranks with federal counterparts, the Victorian National Party backed the move to support the “no” case.

“If you are going to take something to a referendum you need to know the detail. Just to have a referendum and say a parliamentary committee will then design what comes out of that referendum, I don’t think that’s the way to go about that,” Victorian leader Peter Walsh said in November.

“It’s not just about a high-level debate for the elite, it’s got to be about outcomes on the ground.”

The decision of the federal Nationals to oppose the Voice was taken after a backbench committee spent months speaking to stakeholders and developing recommendations.

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