Victorian Law Institute vows to back the Indigneous voice to parliament
Its support comes amid bitter infighting at the Victorian Bar Association, with 2200 members gearing up to vote on the issue.
The Law Institute of Victoria has vowed to back the Indigenous voice despite conceding some of its members may hold an opposing view.
Its support comes as infighting persists at the Victorian Bar Association over the issue, and all 2200 members gear up to vote on whether the association should release a unified position.
The Law Institute of Victoria, which represents 18,000 lawyers across the state, released a media statement on Tuesday declaring its “public support to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution”.
“We believe that establishing a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice is a long-overdue constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations peoples,” Institute President Tania Wolff said.
“It will be both a substantive and practical measure to better inform policy and legal decisions that impact the lives of Indigenous Australians. The consequences of the constitutional change have been interrogated by constitutional experts and have been found to be sound.”
However, she acknowledged the Institute was “cognisant of the diversity of views across out community and the Law Institute of Victoria membership.”
“Ultimately, each Australian will need to arrive at their own decision on this issue,” she said.
The statement followed in the footsteps of the Law Council of Australia, which stated its support earlier this year.
Meanwhile the state’s Bar Association continues to tie itself in knots over the issue and is yet to reach a decision on whether it releases a public statement supporting the voice, or remains silent.
The Australian on Monday revealed all 2200 members of the state Bar will likely participate in an electronic vote on the issue, after two separate motions for special general meetings were tendered to the Victorian Bar Council for consideration.
The Victorian Bar Council will on Tuesday night vote on whether three councillors who signed one of the motions - which urged the Bar to issue its public support for the voice - should remove themselves from any discussion on the referendum moving forward.
The NSW Bar Association has stated its public support for the voice, while the Queensland Bar Association has declared it will not issue a public position.
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