Ken Wyatt’s Indigenous voice to parliament talk to Liberals fails to bowl them over

Fewer than 20 people turned up to listen to Ken Wyatt speak in favour of the Indigenous voice to parliament at an event hosted by the WA Liberals before he quit the party last week.

Former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt. Picture: Colin Murty

Fewer than 20 people turned up to listen to former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt speak in favour of the Indigenous voice to parliament at an event hosted by the West ­Australian Liberal Party before he and his wife Anna quit the party last week.

The WA Liberals invited members to Mr Wyatt’s talk at the South Perth bowls club on March 24, three months after they hosted a much larger crowd for voice opponent Jacinta ­Nampijinpa Price at the same venue.

The Australian has been told 170 people attended the anti-voice speech by Senator Price, a Country Liberal Party member from the NT.

There were an estimated 19 guests at Mr Wyatt’s event, where he outlined work on a proposed voice model during the previous Coalition government. Tickets were sold for the same price for both events.

Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture Mark Brake

The Australian has been told Mr Wyatt’s supporters regard the low turnout at his event as an ­insult to the first Indigenous ­Australian to be promoted to a federal cabinet.

However it was the actions of senior federal Liberal MPs that prompted Mr Wyatt to resign.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced last Wednesday that he would campaign for the No case in the months before the referendum, expected to be held in ­October.

Western Australia’s most ­senior Liberal, Michaelia Cash, then argued against a constitutionally enshrined voice in an essay that appeared in the The West Australian newspaper.

Senator Cash cited her recent visit to the remote towns of ­Leonora and Laverton, and wrote: “No one in these towns that I met thought that the Albanese-­proposed voice was going to do anything to help the Indigenous residents.”

The councils in both towns have voted to remain neutral on the voice.

A Newspoll published in The Australian last week showed that most West Australians support a constitutionally enshrined voice, with 51 per cent in favour, compared with 41 per cent against. WA Liberal Party leader Libby Mettam has said she will vote Yes in the referendum. However, the WA Liberal Party’s state council is opposed and has repeatedly rejected an ­Indigenous advisory body in the Constitution.

The WA Liberal Party’s state council has also voted against ­inserting a mention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the preamble of the Constitution, as originally proposed by John Howard in 2007 and supported by the current federal party.

The state council’s views are likely to be tested on April 29 when it meets under new leadership in Albany.

The Liberals were poleaxed at the 2021 West Australian election and last May they lost five of their 10 federal seats, including Mr Wyatt’s seat of Hasluck, which he had held since 2010.