Noel Pearson’s pain over Liberal strategy on Indigenous voice to parliament

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says he is ‘heartbroken’ by the behaviour of opposition legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser and his criticism of the voice.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says he is “heartbroken” by the behaviour of opposition legal ­affairs spokesman Julian Leeser and his criticism of the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Mr Leeser has been publicly calling on the government to provide more detail on how the voice will operate with executive government.

The opposition has also ­requested the government ­release the Solicitor-General’s advice unpinning the referendum.

“The idea we’ve ended up with is an idea we struck with ­Julian … We hammered it out at the Australian Catholic University on the north shore, in (constitutional expert) Greg Craven’s office, and I’m absolutely heartbroken over Julian Leeser’s ­behaviour in recent days and weeks. He’s disowning an idea that was very much a product of my engagement with constitutional conservatives, such as himself,” Mr Pearson told Chris Kenny Tonight on Sky News on Tuesday. “I think after all this, it’s going to be a great regret for him and for conservatives generally and for the Liberal and National ­parties.”

Mr Pearson said it would be a tragedy if the voice did not ­receive bipartisan support as it was part of a reconciliation “agenda started by conservatives” more than 10 years ago.

Mr Pearson, one of the key ­architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, said one of the most important aspects of the voice would be the way it ­interacted with executive government. “Executive means ‘government bureaucracy’. That’s the minister and his or her departments, that’s where the action is,” he said. “That’s where the practical change is made and needed.

“The work of the bureaucracy is where the practical business takes place. And that’s a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month business. We need to get the bureaucracy working in the Indigenous communities.

“And if we remove it, we basically remove the guts of the whole proposal.

“We will make this system work better, for better results, if the departments of government are required to listen to the views of Indigenous people. It is really the heart of the proposal here. So to exempt the bureaucrats from this advice would shatter the whole idea.

“Everybody knows, every Australian knows, the breakdown is in the bureaucracy.”

He said the working group would continue to fight “down to the last comma” over the wording and urged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to work towards supporting the voice as it stands.

Mr Pearson said if he and Mr Leeser did not, he feared Mr Dutton would look back in regret. “Just like he did with the apology to Indigenous Australians,” he said.