Liberals barrister to cross-examine voice committee over ‘radical’ amendment

Liberal MP and barrister Keith Wolahan will lead the Coalition’s cross-examination on the voice referendum joint parliamentary committee.

Liberal MP and barrister Keith Wolahan will push for answers about whether the “radical” wording of the government’s constitutional voice amendment will trigger a legal minefield.

Liberal MP and barrister Keith Wolahan will lead the Coalition’s cross-examination on the voice referendum joint parliamentary committee, pushing for answers about whether the “radical” wording of the government’s constitutional amendment will trigger a legal minefield.

Mr Wolahan, who at the first joint select committee meeting on Monday will be nominated by the Coalition as deputy chairman under Labor-appointed chairwoman Nita Green, said the committee would act as the “constitutional convention” that Anthony Albanese should have held.

“In effect this committee is becoming the constitutional convention we never had. That means it takes on an extra importance,” Mr Wolahan told The Australian.

“Whatever the result is at the end of the year, I think we need to look back and say we properly analysed all of the risks and that analysis was done in good faith and then presented to the Australian people when they made an informed decision.”

The Menzies MP has raised concerns about Labor’s “visceral reaction” to questions being asked about the government’s constitutional amendment, which will be voted on in the parliament in June.

The committee, which has a six-week deadline to report back to parliament, includes seven Labor MPs, four Coalition MPs, Greens First Nations spokeswoman Dorinda Cox and independent MP Andrew Gee, who quit the Nationals over their opposition to the voice.

Amid rising pressure on the Liberal Party to announce its position, the architect of the concept of a voice to parliament and opposition legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser will deliver a speech at the National Press Club on Monday about “the voice and the road ahead”.

Mr Wolahan said there “will be and should be more questions … because we’re asking Australians to make a very serious decision this year”.

“We saw the wording that has been proposed and I must admit when people asked me over the last 12 months what wording would come, I never thought it would be this radical. It’s not modest,” he told parliament in a speech last week.

The former commando said he was concerned about the second and third provisions of Labor’s constitutional amendment, including allowing the voice to “make representations to the parliament and the executive government of the commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.

NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg on the voice: ‘The task is now to review that work with the benefit of the committee system, which includes gathering of evidence, cross-examination of witnesses.’ Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

“There is broad agreement from all those involved in the various working groups, that that has broad application. It’s not narrow to the particular minister. The Prime Minister and many commentators refer to the third part as being the bit that checks any justiciability of that.

“And it says the parliament shall, subject to this constitution … have power to make laws with respect to ‘matters relating to’. That, we are told, is what will protect the possibility, and I would submit probability, that there will be … an implied obligation to consult.”

Mr Wolahan said serious questions from the Coalition and Australians about justiciability, which should have been “asked” by the government, must be answered.

NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told The Australian: “There’s been a lot of claims and counter claims since last year’s Garma festival and the release of the revised wording.”

“And the task is now to review that work with the benefit of the committee system, which includes gathering of evidence, cross-examination of witnesses. And I’m looking forward to engaging in that critical process.”