An Indigenous voice to parliament Yes vote ‘will save money, cut waste’

A former leading policy adviser to the Liberals has sent an urgent plea to each of the party’s federal MPs and senators to support the Indigenous voice to parliament in the partyroom’s crucial meeting on Wednesday.

Former vice-president of the federal Liberal Party Karina Okotel. Picture: Kym Smith

A former leading policy adviser to the Liberals has sent an urgent plea to each of the party’s federal MPs and senators to support the Indigenous voice to parliament in the partyroom’s crucial meeting on Wednesday as “the voice will in fact save us money, because it will empower local communities to partner with governments to stop waste, fix duplication and get better bang for buck”.

Lawyer Karina Okotel, once vice-president of the federal Liberal Party and former chair of its advisory committee on federal policy, has sent a lengthy email to partyroom members telling them a constitutionally protected Indigenous advisory body was a conservative development in 2014.

“There is a moral imperative that conservatives not abandon the voice now simply because it will be a Labor government that takes it forward,” she said.

Ms Okotel, who opposed same-sex marriage and has been a critic of Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates, argued in her group email that the voice fits the Liberal Party’s timeless values. She asked the partyroom not to abandon the multicultural and faith communities that support the voice.

“More and more, we are looking like the party of the elites – that Labor tries to paint us as – if we continue to ignore the multicultural vote, the religious vote and the women’s vote,” Ms Okotel wrote.

“This is everything that Menzies fought against, but right now the perception is that we have literally turned our backs on the forgotten people.”

Ms Okotel told the partyroom members that she loved the Liberal Party and did not want to see it “driven down to minor party status”. She said the party must learn from its crushing defeat in Aston that if it does not stand proudly on its values it ends up standing for nothing.

“There is a reason why the ­future of our party, our Young Liberal Movement, is almost universally male, Caucasian and from backgrounds that in general would be considered upper class, rather than the middle class Menzies fought for.

“If we want to win back the forgotten people, then we must reflect all of our Liberal values. This includes ‘a just and humane society, where those who cannot provide for themselves can live in dignity’.”

Ms Okotel’s email, obtained by The Australian, includes a chronology of the events that led to the voice, and reminds MPs and senators that it was John Howard who “first put Indigenous constitutional recognition on the agenda in 2007”.

Ms Okotel warned it would be a mistake to try to refine the draft constitutional amendment for the voice after taking no action on a draft amend­ment while in government.

“We were in government for five years after the Uluru Statement. We could have progressed the draft then, and proposed refinements to the voice. To only do so now sends a message to the electorate that we are not a party that ever genuinely supported reconciliation or the betterment of the lives of Indigenous communities,” she writes.

“We should also listen to our former minister for Indigenous Australians … Ken Wyatt, on this issue. He continues to support the voice and wants constitutionally guaranteed advice to the executive to remain. As a practising lawyer, I agree.”