Peter Dutton demands voice detail, while Ken Wyatt says he already has it

Peter Dutton has used a major speech to demand more detail, as Ken Wyatt says he provided it to cabinet while in government.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Peter Dutton has used a major speech on Closing the Gap to demand more detail on Labor’s voice to parliament, which he called a “body without precedent” that would be a “major change in how our country is governed”.

The 2022 Closing the Gap annual report shows while Australia is on track to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians in areas such as healthier birth weights and a reduction in the detention of young people, it has gone backwards in areas including suicide and child-removal rates.

“Australians want to know whether a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament will be able to deliver those outcomes that we all burn for, that we want now, in Indigenous communities,” the Opposition Leader said in parliament following the tabling of the report, adding: “But how are Australians supposed to make an informed decision at a referendum when they are deprived of the details?”

Mr Dutton listed questions he said the government had left unanswered, including who would be eligible to serve on the body and how they would be elected, the cost to taxpayers annually, the terms of reference for the voice, how the voice would “interact” with the Closing the Gap process, and if it would be “purely advisory” or have decision-making capabilities.

“In the absence of the basic details, it is no wonder there has been speculation surrounding how the voice will operate,” he said.

His comments came after former Liberal Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt criticised his Coalition colleagues for using the argument that there was a “lack of detail” around the voice proposal as an excuse.

Mr Wyatt said he took a report explaining how the voice would work – titled the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process – to cabinet on numerous occasions when the Coalition was in government.

“Pages 16 to 17, that is the detail,” Mr Wyatt told the ABC.

Pages 16 to 17 of the report, written by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, outlines the need for a local and regional Indigenous voice framework, which would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in every community to have a greater say.”

Anthony Albanese tabled the report to parliament, which he said outlined exactly how the voice would operate, and quoted Mr Wyatt’s comments to hose down the criticism Labor had not provided enough detail.