Bill Shorten set to fast track voice referendum if he becomes PM

Bill Shorten says he will hold the vote to change the constitution in the first term of a Labor government if he becomes PM.

Bill Shorten says he will hold the vote to change the constitution in the first term of a Labor government. Picture: AAP.

Bill Shorten is set to fast track a referendum on the indigenous voice to parliament if he becomes prime minister, and hold the vote to change the constitution in the first term of a Labor government.

The Opposition Leader said a referendum to constitutionally enshrine the voice would be held in Labor’s first term.

Labor had previously vowed the voice referendum would be held before a republican referendum but did not put a timeline on the vote.

Under pressure from indigenous activists, Mr Shorten also said the voice referendum would be held before the republican plebiscite, which has been promised for Labor’s first term.

Mr Shorten, when asked today whether the republic plebiscite would follow the first-term constitutional referendum, answered: “Yes.”

When asked if that meant the constitutional referendum would be also held in Labor’s first term, Mr Shorten answered: “Yes.”

The Weekend Australian reported that prominent indigenous figures such as Marcia Langton and Megan Davis were urging the Opposition Leader to junk a republican plebiscite and fast-track a referendum on the voice.

The Greens were also demanding the referendum on the voice come before a republican plebiscite.

Mr Shorten’s pledge comes despite former Keating government indigenous affairs minister, Robert Tickner, today warning that a referendum on the indigenous voice to parliament will fail unless it has bipartisan support and a premature national vote will “burn the issue irredeemably”.

“It is just simply not (going to succeed). It wouldn’t matter what I did or any indigenous person did,” Mr Tickner told The Australian.

“You could walk backwards up Northbourne Avenue (in Canberra) to Parliament House stark naked and carry a big stick (but) no referendum is going to get through without cross-party support.

“It would be irresponsible for a government to launch into a referendum (without bipartisan support) because it would burn the issue irredeemably. It would consign it to oblivion.”

A constitutionally enshrined voice, recommended by the federal government’s Referendum Council in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, would act as an advisory body with elected indigenous Australians to give input on government policy.