Indigenous Voice stirs minister’s emotions as Coalition demands Australia Day answers

As the referendum nears closer, a fight has emerged over what the Voice to parliament can and can’t do, sparking an emotional response from one minister.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney insists she wants to close the gap rather than engage in culture wars as the federal opposition demands answers about the Voice referendum.

Ms Burney became emotional in parliament on Wednesday as Coalition MPs pursued her over why she had said the Indigenous Voice to parliament and executive government wouldn’t provide advice on changing the date of Australia Day.

Under intense questioning, Ms Burney said creating a constitutionally-enshrined Voice was not about stoking culture wars but helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were “crying out for a different way of doing things”.

“I have been to communities where there are 30 people living in two bedroom homes. I have been to communities where babies are drinking sweet cordial instead of water because it is cheaper.

“I have taken a friend, who died at 43 from end-of-life renal failure, to visit his son in jail. I have seen friends die (who) are very young and their conditions in life when they were young were terrible.

“So do not tell me what I do or do not know about Aboriginal Australia.”

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has fired back against a barrage of questions about the Voice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Ms Burney’s comments came after South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin asked her where in the proposed Constitutional amendment to enshrine the Voice does it say the advisory body would be restricted from offering advice on any issue it chose.

In response, Ms Burney said “I am sorry that it appears you are unable to read the very simple instructions for what this is about”.

She withdrew the comment after Mr Pasin asked her to and told parliament he had grown up in a house where English wasn’t spoken as a first language.

Liberal MP Melissa Price began question time by asking Ms Burney if she had misled parliament with her Australia Day comment, to which Ms Burney said parliament would decide if the date of Australia Day was to change, not the Voice.

Ms Burney made the contested comment on Tuesday as she faced another round of intense questioning about the Voice’s parameters and said the body would not advise on “parking tickets … changing Australia Day (or) all of the ridiculous things that this side has come up with”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the Voice is about proper recognition for Indigenous Australians. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has been leading the push for Ms Burney to clarify her comments, saying the Labor minister had “real questions to answer” about what the Voice would be able to make representations about.

“It is simply not good enough for Linda Burney to say in the parliament the Voice will not make representations on Australia Day and she ruled out other matters that we questioned her on as well,” Ms Ley told reporters on Wednesday morning.

“She’s now being contradicted by experts, including those on the ‘yes’ campaign and her own Referendum Working Group. They’ve taken a completely different position. They’re right, Linda Burney is wrong.

“She needs to come into the parliament, and she needs to correct the record.”

Sussan Ley says Ms Burney misled parliament. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Architects of the Voice including Megan Davis and Noel Pearson have previously said changing the date of Australia Day — which is viewed as a day of mourning by many Indigenous people — is not likely to be among the Voice’s top concerns.

The renewed debate over the Voice’s scope comes after the laws that to set up the referendum on embedding the advisory body in the Constitution passed parliament on Monday.

The passage of the government’s Constitution Alteration Bill through the Senate — 52 votes to 19 — guarantees that the national poll will be held sometime in the final three months of the year.

If the referendum succeeds, the Constitution would be amended to recognise Indigenous Australians as the nation’s First Peoples and to enshrine a permanent, independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait advisory body, or “Voice”, to parliament and the executive government.

The federal Nationals Party and most of the federal Liberal Party — including Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his deputy Sussan Ley — do not support the Voice and are campaigning against it.