Noel Pearson to Labor: be true on voice referendum

Labor must put a constitutionally enshrined ‘voice to parliament’ to a referendum in its next term in government or risk alienating its voter base, Noel Pearson says.

Noel Pearson, left, with former prime minister Paul Keating at the Judith Neilson Institute in Sydney on Wedesnday. Picture: Katje Ford

Noel Pearson says Labor must put a constitutionally enshrined “voice to parliament” to a referendum in its next term in government or risk alienating its voter base and repeating the mistakes made by Kevin Rudd.

After opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Linda Burney said an Albanese government would go to a referendum in the first term only if “we think we can win it”, the Cape York leader told The Australian there was “more than enough evidence it will succeed”.

Mr Pearson said a referendum on the issue needed to be held in the next term of government, and he urged Labor to respect the rusted-on support the party has from ­Indigenous people.

“The question needs to be put to the Australian people,” Mr Pearson said. “And to the Labor Party, I would say it’s important to respect the base. This is what the conservatives do … the ­Coalition always respects their base, and Labor must.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are slavish Labor voters. Yes some of us vote conservative. But by and large, this is a rusted-on group that have supported Labor uphill and down.

“And it’s important that Albanese’s Labor respects the Indigenous base of the Labor Party and honours that by putting this question to the Australian people in the next term of parliament.”

In The Australian on Wednesday, Ms Burney said the ALP’s “aspiration” was to hold a referendum within the first term of government should Labor be ­successful at the May election.

But she warned the ambition outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart – to create a constitutionally protected body to advise the parliament on Indigenous issues – may never eventuate if it is rejected in a referendum.

“The logic has always been in the first term of a Labor government, but you don’t have a referendum if you don’t think you are going to win it,” Ms Burney said.

“I think it will be held in the first term, personally. But we have always said that we will have a ­referendum when we believe it is most winnable. If a referendum is lost, then the momentum would be very difficult to sustain.”

Ms Burney endorsed Mr Pearson’s proposal to go to a referendum for a constitutionally enshrined voice before creating the Indigenous advisory body through legislation.

However, Indigenous academic Tom Calma, who was named Australian of the Year for the ACT in 2013, is at odds with Mr Pearson. Professor Calma said a referendum should not be held prematurely and should happen only after the voice had been legislated and was active.

Professor Calma, who co-chaired a panel that recommended a voice design to the Morrison government, said people were “not going to give Aboriginal people a voice if they don’t know what the voice is”.

“That is the problem of going to a referendum if you do not have a tangible body to refer to,” he said. “Any referendum should not happen prematurely because you are going to lose it. And if you lose it you have got no voice.

“That is why the more cautious and prudent way to go is to get it established, get it to be a proven body, to be less threatening for people.”

The Coalition is yet to outline how it will progress, but Scott Morrison opposes enshrining the Indigenous advisory body in the Constitution.

Mr Pearson spoke to The Australian after attending a Judith Neilson Institute “in conversation” event with former prime minister Paul Keating. During the event, Mr Pearson said “blackfellas are the base of the Labor Party and you can’t treat them like shit all the time”.

He said Mr Albanese was at risk of repeating the mistake of Mr Rudd, who said ahead of the 2007 election a referendum on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians would be held in the second term of government.

“He never got a second term, and I fear the opposition now is in danger of repeating the same mistake – deferring the question of putting recognition to the Australian people in a referendum to a second term and repeating the mistake of 2007-08,” Mr Pearson said.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt accused Labor of having “no clear plan to empower Indigenous Australians at the local and regional level” and “not being committed to the design of the voice co-design process”.

“The Morrison government has consistently said we’ll go a referendum once a consensus is reached and at a time it has the best chance of success,” he said.

“It seems Labor has come to that same position, after pushing the government to rush to a referendum just a year ago.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: PAIGE TAYLOR