Newspoll shows voice has a chance

After a rocky few weeks in which Anthony Albanese has been unable to answer basic questions from Peter Dutton and others about the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, he and the Yes side have a chance to reboot the issue. The latest Newspoll, conducted for The Australian and published on Monday, shows 56 per cent of voters are in favour of the voice, while 37 per cent are against and 7 per cent undecided. Those in favour believe it would ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had a say in policies that affect them, and mark a step forward in reconciliation. In terms of pointing to the result of the referendum to be held later this year, much will depend on the geographic spread of support. To become law, a proposed change to the Constitution must be approved by a national majority of electors from all states and territories, and a majority of electors in a majority of states.

The resumption of parliament this week gives the Prime Minister and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney the opportunity to press their case. In a speech to Labor faithful at the Chifley Research Centre Conference in Canberra on Sunday, Mr Albanese tried to take some heat out of the issue. The voice, he said, would be a “modest” change, “not a radical proposition but a sensible one’’, despite some opponents trying to drum up a culture war over the issue.

The mechanics of the voice would not be written into the Constitution. “That’s not how it works,’’ Mr Albanese said. “For example, the Constitution says the commonwealth parliament will have power to make laws for the ‘naval and military defence of the commonwealth’. It doesn’t spell out the size of the ADF, or where it should be based or what sort of defence hardware we should have.’’ The voice would not administer funding, deliver programs or have any kind of veto power over decision-making. Moments of national decision, such as the referendum, were an opportunity for Australians to show their best qualities: their generosity, their sense of fairness, their optimism for the future.

Labor’s Special Envoy for Reconciliation Patrick Dodson raised an interesting issue in an exclusive interview with The Australian, calling for an Indigenous voice to parliament to also have a role in advising the national cabinet. While that would represent an apparent expansion of the proposed model, it would have the advantage of enabling voice members to provide input on relevant matters to the nation’s leading body of first ministers.