Indigenous voice to parliament is ‘divisive and breaches discrimination laws’, says Michaelia Cash

The Indigenous voice will ‘destroy equality of citizenship’ and ‘embed division based on race in the Constitution’, says Michaelia Cash.

Coalition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Indigenous voice to parliament will “destroy equality of citizenship” and “embed division based on race in the Constitution”, the Coalition’s new legal affairs spokeswoman, Michaelia Cash, says.

In her first interview since taking over the portfolio last month, Senator Cash defended the party’s decision not to have a free vote for its frontbench on the voice and said something as important as constitutional change needed a “united position” from the executive.

“Ultimately we have come to a position as a party and that position was overwhelmingly supported by our party room,” she said. “When it comes to the executive, you have to have a united position and if you can’t agree with it, of course you need to step aside.”

The former attorney-general also admonished the treatment of Jacinta Price and Kerrynne Liddle, both of whom are Indigenous Coalition senators staunchly against a voice.

“I think it is very disappointing that people … want to … disregard the position of Indigenous women in the Liberal Party ­because they are in the Liberal Party,” she said.

“Why wouldn’t you listen to someone like Jacinta Price … and consider why she says ‘Mr Albanese wants to divide my family in two and that the voice will divide us, not unite us’.”

Senator Price’s comments on the voice have triggered a backlash from Indigenous leaders and land councils, with Central Land Council deputy chair Warren Williams accusing her of “playing politics” with the issue and representing “non-Aboriginal conservatives in Canberra”.

It followed Noel Pearson in November claiming Senator Price – the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs – was caught in a “redneck celebrity vortex”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last month ­announced the Liberals would ­actively campaign against what he called “the Canberra voice”, claiming the model would only add another layer of bureaucracy and not achieve results on the ground.

While backing symbolic recognition of Indigenous people in the Constitution, Mr Dutton rejected a national voice being enshrined in the founding document and called instead for “local and ­regional” voices that would only by legislated, rather than being written into the Constitution. The move prompted senior voice supporter Julian Leeser to resign from his legal affairs and Indigenous Australians portfolios, stepping down to the backbench in order to campaign in favour of the voice.

Liberal backbenchers are allowed to form their own views on pieces of legislation and issues such as the voice, while the executive is bound to the party’s formal position unless a free vote is explicitly granted by party leadership.

When asked if there was a push within the party for a free vote to be granted to the frontbench, as the Victorian Liberal branch had done, Senator Cash would not ­divulge discussions in the shadow cabinet surrounding the issue.

“We came to a position and our position is clear. It’s as simple as that and I really can’t say anything more,” she said.

Senator Cash is a fierce opponent of a voice to parliament, which she claimed would give rights to a group of people that would “in normal circumstances breach discrimination laws”.

“It is based on a particular person’s race and they will have rights that no one else in Australia has,” she said. “So you are intentionally embedding in the Constitution, paramount rights in favour of a certain group of people.

“These rights would in normal circumstances breach discrimination laws and be found to be unlawful, but as they are superior rights and are embedded in the Constitution, they will be an ­exception that the parliament cannot override.

“So at its core, the voice is divisive … and does nothing to help the most marginalised members of the Indigenous communities.”

Senator Cash said the voice would need to be given enough time and resources to analyse any policies it deemed worthy of providing advice on, and warned this would put the government and its departments into “administrative paralysis”.

She would not confirm if the Coalition would call a referendum on recognising Indigenous people in the Constitution when it was next in government, should the voice referendum fail.

“I can’t talk about what we may or may not do next time we are in government,” she said. “All I can say is we fundamentally believe in constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and I think the majority of Australians do.”

While the party’s formal opposition to the voice triggered backlash from veteran Liberals including Ken Wyatt – who quit the party after the announcement – Senator Cash denied the move had damaged the Liberal brand.

“Those decisions were made by individual members of the Liberal Party and the one thing that will always differentiate the Liberal Party from the Labor Party is freedom to choose and freedom to express an opinion, and that is something we’re incredibly proud of,” she said.

She confirmed that the Coalition had already begun actively campaigning against the voice and would ramp up what she called a “grassroots” campaign ahead of the referendum expected between October and December.

“We’re doing it now and you’ll only see more of it … setting out what our position really is and why we don’t believe the voice will make any difference and will likely be a retrograde step,” she said.