Ken Wyatt defends equality of the Indigenous voice

Ken Wyatt has disagreed with Pat Turner that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not been treated as equal partners in the design of a voice.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt. Picture: Gary Ramage

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt has chosen to publicly disagree with one of the Morrison government’s most senior Indigenous policymakers at a speech in her honour, arguing against the claim by Closing the Gap co-chair Pat Turner that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not been treated as equal partners in the design of a voice.

Mr Wyatt’s speech on the crucial role of government in delivering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy reform is likely to be interpreted as a direct response to Ms Turner, who in September said the government’s approach to designing an Indigenous voice was “high on rhetoric and well-­rehearsed: co-design, empowerment, doing things with us, rather than to us. But if we look closely, the practice continues to be poles apart”. She said the voice was ­unfolding into a flawed and convoluted process.

Mr Wyatt will speak at the Australian National University’s Pat Turner Scholarship event on Wednesday, where outstanding Indigenous public servants will be awarded postgraduate scholarships named after the Alice Springs woman who rose to the highest levels of the public service and now leads a coalition of 50 peak Indigenous organisations that will oversee the implementation of a new national agreement on Closing the Gap.

He will describe the design of the Indigenous voice as a genuine partnership with Indigenous people that will require the involvement of government, saying “due recognition must be given to our public sector that ensures the ­decisions we make are realised on the ground”.

“It is imperative that governments are vested in the Indigenous voice as this is how voices will be heard, and how the wishes, dreams, aspirations and wants of Indigenous Australians will translate into sustained, improved outcomes,” he will say, ­ according to a copy of the speech obtained by The Australian.

A blueprint for the voice is with the Morrison government, following a design process overseen by Indigenous leaders Marcia Langton and Tom Calma. It will soon be shown to Australians in a series of consultations.

Mr Wyatt’s speech, to be delivered online, also advocates for more Indigenous people to be ­recruited into the bureaucracy.