Unions want indigenous voice to be a Labor government priority

Bill Shorten is facing a new push by militant unionists to shelve his republic plebiscite in favour of an indigenous voice.

Unionist Thomas Mayor at the University of NSW. Picture: Renee Nowytarger

Bill Shorten is facing a new push by unionists to shelve his promised republic plebiscite in favour of a fast-tracked referendum to deliver a constitutionally enshrined indigenous voice to parliament.

Maritime Union of Australia Northern Territory branch secretary Thomas Mayor said the opposition risked making the same “mistake” as Bob Hawke in recognising the nation’s indigenous people, declaring Labor should not be “messing around with a republic” until there had been a referendum on “the voice”.

Under a compromise between the Right and the Left, Labor amended its platform at last month’s national conference to make a First Nations voice the constitutional priority for a Shorten government.

It did not include a timeline on when a referendum on the issue would be held, despite Labor committing to a $160 million republican plebiscite in its first term.

Mr Mayor, who led the push from the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union to amend Labor’s platform to include a commitment to the voice, said he would campaign against a first-term republican plebiscite if the Opposition Leader won. The Australian has also spoken to Labor Left MPs who believe a public vote on the republic should be delayed and the focus should be on the voice.

“A republican plebiscite would be out of order,” Mr Mayor said.

“Resources are better spent or focused at seeing the First Nations voice referendum be a success.”

Mr Mayor said Mr Shorten should avoid the mistake Mr Hawke made when the former prime minister backflipped on his support for a treaty.

“The treaty wasn’t delivered and this is one of the reasons the Uluru statement was written to the Australian people and not given to parliament or the Queen or anything,” Mr Mayor said.

“What I will be doing in the new year is continuing to build the ­people’s movement because … plenty of statements and petitions haven’t been delivered.”

Labor Left MP Graham Perrett said there was room for both the republic and the voice, arguing that they were part of the one story. “I definitely think there is room for both and I think they are part of the one story, in terms of the reality of Australia for the next century,” Mr Perrett said.

“It should not be just a birth certificate that recognises an indigenous voice but also speaks strongly with an Australian accent. Recognising our history, all of our history, but being a proud independent nation and being proud of our position in the world — that is why I think they complement each other.”

A constitutionally enshrined voice, recommended by the federal government’s Referendum Council in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, was rejected by the Turnbull government ­because of fears it would become a “third chamber of parliament”.