Anthony Albanese changes tackon Indigenous voice details, bipartisanship

Anthony Albanese has declared that the voice to parliament and the referendum were not ‘the government’s idea’. Picture: Gary Ramage

The debate on the Indigenous voice to parliament has moved into a new realm as Anthony Albanese offers more engagement and detail on the referendum while ramping up the risk of a failed vote to Australia’s international relations and trade.

In the first real parliamentary engagement between the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton over the referendum, Albanese suddenly changed tack after months of stonewalling on requests for information on how the voice would work.

Peter Dutton warned that since the election, ‘there has been no bipartisanship’ on the voice referendum. Picture: Getty Images

For the first time since Albanese promised a voice to parliament as Labor’s first priority on election night, the Prime Minister sought to distance himself, Labor and the government from responsibility for the referendum campaign and draw in Coalition MPs to create bipartisanship.

After the Opposition Leader granted Albanese more time to expand on a surprise response, the Prime Minister appealed to Coalition MPs to be involved in a committee process on the legislation in March establishing the referendum, to be held between September and December.

“You are not observers but participants,” Albanese told Coalition MPs as he offered to provide more detail and appealed for bipartisanship to “maximise the opportunity” for success in the referendum.

He also declared that the voice to parliament and the referendum were not “the government’s idea”.

After backing down and agreeing to fund the mailing of arguments for and against the referendum to all households and ruling out the voice having any membership of national cabinet, Albanese appealed for the “development of further detail” to optimise bipartisanship.

There are moves to kill off the idea that voice representatives would be involved in other cabinet committees such as budget’s expenditure review committee.

It is clear there are government concerns that unmet demands for detail, a rush to the referendum and warnings about a lack of commonsense pro­cesses are threatening to turn people off a voice to parliament because they don’t understand it.

Albanese, maintaining he has been consistent, didn’t back away from the risks of a failed referendum and called for ­people to consider the impact on Australia’s international standing and regional trade if a No vote prevailed.

Dutton was allowed an impromptu reply to Albanese’s extended appeal to the parliament. He warned that since the election, “there has been no bipartisanship” on the referendum. He also declared: “No one has the moral ground on the issue” and cited the damage done to women and children in Alice Springs.

While there have been expectations of parliamentary committees to deal with legislation and details before the referendum, there has not been such a direct appeal and offer from Labor before.