Coalition calls for legal advice on Indigenous voice to be make public
The Coalition has called for the release of the legal advice on the Indigenous voice to parliament that prompted the government to seek to water down the referendum proposal.
The Coalition has called for the public release of the legal advice on the Indigenous voice to parliament that prompted the Albanese government to seek to water down the referendum proposal by removing the need for executive government to advise on new laws.
Opposition Indigenous affairs spokesman Julian Leeser has written to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus asking for the advice that Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue KC gave to the government’s own working group on Thursday, setting out legal arguments about the constitutional amendment.
The Australian revealed on Friday that members of the working group rejected Mr Dreyfus’s appeal and rebuked him for going too far in his advice.
Mr Leeser told The Weekend Australian the lack of an established process on the referendum proposal was “staggering” and the “unwillingness to answer reasonable questions even more so”.
“Now we hear that the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General have informed the referendum working group that the Prime Minister’s amendment has legal issues,” Mr Leeser said.
“This is all of the Prime Minister’s making. He put out a constitutional amendment at Garma over six months ago without advice from the Attorney-General’s Department or the Solicitor-General,” he said.
“Proposing a constitutional amendment is the most serious decision a citizen can make in a democracy. Elections are only for three years, and constitutional amendments can be forever.
“It is only appropriate that the Australian people see the Solicitor-General’s advice on the Prime Minister’s current proposed question. I am writing to the Attorney-General asking that the Solicitor-General’s advice be released publicly.”
Using Mr Donaghue’s advice, Mr Dreyfus sought for the working group to consider an alternative to including the term “executive government” – which Mr Albanese proposed – in the referendum recommendations.
In its draft form, the proposed constitutional amendment that Australians will vote on later this year says the voice “may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
The referendum working group is set to lock in behind the “executive government” clause but it has become a growing political problem for Labor, with Liberal MPs and lawyers who support the principle of the voice pushing back.
Some Labor MPs are also concerned at the amount of time the campaign for the voice is occupying and fear a radical proposal will undermine the chance of the Yes campaign winning.
Critics of the executive government clause argue it should be removed to limit the scope for legal challenge to all decisions made by federal public servants in all departments and agencies.
Working group members rejected Mr Dreyfus’s plea and are set to lock in behind the inclusion of “executive government” in the wording of the referendum and coverage by voice representatives.
Working group member Rodney Dillon, chair of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Heritage Council, said on Friday he was sympathetic to Mr Dreyfus because “he is honestly trying and I give him full points for that”.
“Mr Dreyfus is trying to make it more palatable to the opposition,” Mr Dillon said. “He has got good intent and that’s why I’ll support him, but how many times do we satisfy the critics, the opposition?”
Fellow working group member Marcus Stewart, an elected leader of Victoria’s treaty process, said: “The issue for the opposition is that they want the voice to come with a mute button and that is not how a democracy works.”
Mr Dreyfus refused to comment on the report in The Australian on Friday but did not deny he had put an alternative proposal on executive government.
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