Anthony Albanese ‘leveraging Indigenous voice for own political gain’, says Sussan Ley

Sussan Ley will say Anthony Albanese wants the voice referendum to succeed only ‘on his terms’ and to use a Yes vote to boost his own fortunes at an early election.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley will say Anthony Albanese wants the voice referendum to succeed only “on his terms” and to use a Yes vote to boost his own political fortunes at an early election.

In an address to a business breakfast hosted by Liberals in Curtin, a Perth seat the party needs to win back, Ms Ley will also say the Prime Minister “would rather see the Liberal Party say No and this referendum fail than the Liberal Party say Yes and this referendum succeed”.

With debate on the voice ramping up, Mr Albanese on Thursday accused Peter Dutton of stoking confusion and said he had shown no sign of wanting to work with the government for the referendum to succeed.

The trading of barbs comes after Mr Albanese flagged he was open to changing the draft constitutional amendment so the voice could not make representations to executive government.

The current draft wording says the voice “may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

Some Liberal MPs who support the principle of the voice, including moderate Simon Birm­ing­ham and NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, believe removing “executive government” would make the referendum and advisory body more appealing to their party because it would ­reduce the possibility of legal challenges.

“The less that is inserted into the Constitution and the more detail that is provided of the legislative model, the less there will be to argue over either during the referendum campaign or in future legal challenges,” Senator Birmingham told The Australian.

“Anything that reduces constitutional uncertainty or uncertainty surrounding the legislative model can only improve the chances of a successful referendum.”

Senator Bragg said taking out the words “executive government” would “help win people over” and build consensus across the political divide.

“I welcome (Mr Albanese’s) openness to engage,” he said.

Liberal Party sources said they believed Mr Albanese was hoping to win the referendum on the “vibe of the thing” and use it as a launching pad for an election in 2024, just two years after the last federal poll.

Ms Ley will call on the Prime Minister to “stop laying traps, stop willing the Coalition to oppose this, stop making it a re-election vanity project” and produce the detail of how the voice will work and deliver outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

“Sadly I suspect he is using this referendum as a platform for an early election,” she will say, according to speech excerpts seen by The Australian.

“He wants this referendum to succeed but only on his terms … The problem here is that Anthony Albanese has tied constitutional recognition of our First Australians - which everyone across the parliament supports - to a concept called the voice which he cannot explain.”

Asked if removing “executive government” could make the constitutional amendment more palatable to the Liberals or if he planned to use it as a bargaining chip, Mr Albanese said: “Peter Dutton is showing he wants to create as much confusion and is doing nothing that would indicate that his starting point is ‘OK, how do we work on this together? How do we get this done together?’

“That’s my approach. I want to do this together … but what we have from Peter Dutton, I think people can draw their own ­conclusions.”