We could be voting on Indigenous voice within year

Anthony Albanese has announced Australians will go to a referendum on the Indigenous voice as early as July 1 and the historic vote will be held no later than June 30, 2024.

Senator Patrick Dodson, flanked by Mark Dreyfus and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the first referendum working group meeting in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese has announced Australians will go to a referendum on the Indigenous voice as early as July 1 – giving the yes and no campaigns nine months to make their cases – and the historic vote will be held no later than June 30, 2024.

The Prime Minister revealed on Thursday that he believes there is a window of just one year for the referendum as a working group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians met for the first time to help plan an information campaign that will reach all Australians.

The group also began the work of settling key details for the Indigenous advisory body known as the voice. If Australians vote at the referendum to guarantee an Indigenous advisory body in the Constitution, its existence will be protected but its structure and some functions will be a matter for the parliament of the day.

The working group agreed on key principles for the advisory body to parliament and government including that the voice would not have a program delivery function. In other words, it will not have a budget to run services or deliver works as the now defunct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission did. The working group also agreed to confirm the Albanese government’s often-repeated statement that the voice would be an advisory body only with no power of veto.

Uluru Dialogue member Sally Scales and former Coalition minister Ken Wyatt. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

These decisions were unanimous, according to Indigenous professor Marcia Langton, a member of the working group who oversaw a proposal for the design of the voice with Indigenous professor Tom Calma for the former Coalition government.

The working group of Indigenous Australians also agreed the voice’s function was to provide independent advice to the parliament and government, that it must be transparent and accountable and representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and include youth as well as an equal number of men and women.

While it has often been assumed all members of the voice would be elected, the working group has left open the possibility some communities might decide on a different way to select their representative. This should be “based on the wishes of local communities”. “We unanimously agreed that bringing all Australians with us is vital to success and that requires … clear and concise information about the voice,” Professor Langton told The Australian after the meeting.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, Anthony Albanese and Senator Malarndirri McCarthy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“It is also clear that the great majority support the voice and would vote to approve it at a referendum. People at the meeting today reported that people from all sectors of society are asking how they can help and they want information.

“Again, we were unanimous in agreeing that each of us has a responsibility to reach out to our constituencies and provide the information that they require.”

Mr Albanese said he was confident Australians wanted the voice referendum to succeed but warned there was already a false argument that it was symbolism at the expense of practical advancement. “There will be misinformation out there. You all see it … a bit about ‘special rights’ and all this sort of nonsense, which is what will be peddled. But I’m convinced that Australians, when they have an opportunity to lift the nation up, they’ll take it.

“The voice is a vehicle for change, it’s not the change itself.”