Dutton backtracks on two referendum ideas, digs in on deportation

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has backtracked on a push to hold referendums to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution and create four-year fixed parliamentary terms if elected prime minister, saying the proposals were doomed to fail without bipartisan backing.

Dutton floated the idea of the two additional referendums after previously saying he was prepared to try to change the Constitution to strip citizenship from dual nationals who committed serious crimes, such as terrorists or paedophiles.

His second full day of election campaigning stood out for his efforts to court multicultural communities as he attended an Assyrian cultural festival in western Sydney followed by a visit to a nearby mosque, where he made a pledge to fund security cameras.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in the electorate of Fowler for the Assyrian New Year celebrations at Fairfield Showgrounds in Sydney on Sunday.Credit: James Brickwood

Dutton said he would like to pursue a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the preamble to the Constitution in an interview with The Australian published on Saturday, as well as a referendum to introduce four-year parliamentary terms if bipartisan agreement could be reached.

But he indicated on Sunday that he had little interest in driving these ideas forward, when questioned about his comments at a press conference at a brick factory in western Sydney.

“There will be no referendum until there’s a position of bipartisanship, and clearly there’s no bipartisanship on this issue,” he said, referring to recognising Indigenous Australians in the preamble to the Constitution.

“So there will be no referendum over the course of the next term of parliament, the prime minister’s made that very clear.”

Dutton, whose decision to oppose the Voice to parliament referendum helped sink the proposal in October 2023, said he was focused on making practical improvements to Indigenous Australians’ lives, including the reduction of crime in cities such as Alice Springs.

He indicated he would not pursue a further referendum on fixed four-year terms without bipartisan support, while saying he would continue to pursue a referendum on citizenship stripping as a “break glass” option if there was no other way to address the issue.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had “no intention” on holding a referendum if he is re-elected, even though he has strongly endorsed the idea of fixed four-year parliamentary terms.

This proposal would extend parliamentary terms from the current three-year period and deny prime ministers the right to decide the date of the election.

“Referendums are hard,” Albanese said, saying that Australians had rejected the vast majority of proposals for constitutional change – including the 2023 Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum.

Albanese accused Dutton of floating half-formed ideas on constitutional change, saying: “This is a guy who has committed at various times during this term now to three separate referendums going forward.”

Albanese said Dutton had vowed to “hold a referendum on Indigenous recognition and then walked away from it.

“He also said recently he’d have a referendum about citizenship, but it’s not clear what his position is on that, either, whether he is still pursuing that.”

Dutton proposed the idea of a second referendum to symbolically recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution during the Voice debate, but later said he believed Australians were not in the mood for more referendums.

Dutton on the campaign trail on Day 3 of the 2025 federal election.Credit: James Brickwood, Alex Ellinghausen

At an Assyrian New Year festival in Fairfield, Sydney, Dutton gave a notable shout-out to the local member, describing Independent MP Dai Le as “amazing”.

Dutton has said Le would one of the first crossbench MPs he would call to seek out support if needed to form a minority government after the election.

Le previously ran as a Liberal candidate at state elections before becoming an independent.

Dutton made a $25,000 pledge to fund closed-circuit security cameras at the Al Madinah Mosque in Leppington, which sits in the marginal western Sydney electorate of Macarthur held by Labor MP Mike Freelander.

After taking off his shoes to tour the mosque, which is attended by many worshippers of Pakistani heritage, the opposition leader said it was important for all Australians to be able to “worship in peace and harmony”.

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