Indigenous voice: Business leader says co-design process can work

The PM’s co-design process for a legislated ‘voice to government’ can work, business leader says.

Business leader Mark Leibler.

Business leader Mark Leibler says Scott Morrison’s co-design process for a legislated “voice to government” could pave the way for the body to be enshrined in the Constitution, as he urges supporters of the Uluru Statement from the Heart to embrace the government’s process.

Mr Leibler, a senior partner at law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, told a forum of business figures, legal experts and indigenous activists that the concerns within the Coalition about an indigenous voice “can be alleviated through the co-design process”.

Mr Leibler, who was the co-chair of the Referendum Council that oversaw the Uluru Statement, used the government’s backflip on the banking royal commission as an example of the potential for a policy change.

The comments come as supporters of the Uluru Statement criticise the Prime Minister for ruling out enshrining the voice in the Constitution, as called for by a convention of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander delegates in 2017.

Instead, the government has launched a co-design process for a legislated voice, and a separate process for including indigenous Australian’s in the nation’s birth certificate.

“We all need to understand that the Prime Minister is not about to create a split in the Coalition over this,” Mr Leibler told a forum in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon.

“Political parties have learned the hard way that disunity is death. Which means that the best way to proceed on this is to work quietly through the co-design processes.

“The reality is that the consultation process around constitutional recognition, which is unlikely to be anywhere near as comprehensive as the Referendum Council’s, may come to the same conclusion we did, which will collapse the two processes back into one another. “Another reality is that adjustments to government policy, in line with prevailing community sentiment, are a hallmark of a healthy democracy.”

There were more than 100 people at the forum including publisher and property developer Morry Schwartz, former banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne, and Australian Bar Association president Jennifer Batrouney SC. There were also representatives from BHP Billiton, Energy Australia, KPMG and the Business Council of Australia.

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt, who was at the Melbourne event, last month launched a co-design process for a legislated voice which will be led by Uluru Statement supporters Marcia Langton and Tom Calma.

The senior advisory panel for the process, which includes Cape York leader Noel Pearson, will hold its first meeting at Old Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday.

Mr Leibler also noted that Professor Calma had “quite reasonably” argued there needs to be more detail around a voice before it is put to a referendum.

“Detail that may be set out in legislation,” Mr Leibler said.

“But that would neither preclude, nor substitute for, constitutional amendment down the track, once people have seen the detail.”

Mr Leibler said he had met with six conservative MPs who had misgivings about the voice proposal.

“I feel there is some prospect that their fears around the voice can be alleviated through the co-design process,” he said.

A constitutionally enshrined “voice to parliament”, as recommended by the Uluru Statement, would act as a body of indigenous people that would advise the government on legislation that would impact Aboriginal Australians.

Mr Wyatt last month proposed the body instead be a “voice to government’’ which could give it a remit to advise local, state and federal representatives.