Voice referendum: Phillip Thompson, Andrew Willcox, Nita Green, Susan McDonald and Bob Katter reveal thoughts on the Voice to parliament
Journalist: Blair Jackson
Townsville Bulletin
The political division on the Voice to Parliament referendum continues to ring true among North Queensland federal MPs.
LNP member for Dawson Andrew Willcox says he will vote ‘no’, and that the Prime Minister has given Australians little to no information on what “Labor’s proposed Canberra Voice to Parliament” will look like, how it will operate, and what it will do.
On a date yet to be confirmed later this year, voters will be asked whether they approve altering the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
If approved, a new section will be inserted into the Constitution enshrining ‘a voice’ to make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government (ministers and the public service) on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“When I have asked the views of my electorate, the hard reality is that most people don’t know what voting ‘yes’ will mean,” Mr Wilcox said.
Katter’s Australian Party MP Bob Katter does not believe the voice will address the needs of the “fair dinkum First Australians” in his electorate.
“I’m hearing loud and clear from my community, that the whole idea is tokenism, paternalism and divisive to its core,” The Kennedy MP said.
“People in Doomadgee or Mornington Island, if asked what they wanted, would probably say a decent feed,” Mr Katter said.
“When I went out and asked them what they wanted – they said freehold title, private individual, freehold title. Yet the governments of Australia have imposed tribalism upon them.”
Mr Katter was on medical leave when the bill passed the lower house, but regardless “my non-voting registers the strongest possible protest against an initiative that is unclear and unlikely to achieve real results”, he said.
ALP Senator Nita Green will make the “easy decision” to vote ‘yes’.
“I’ve heard the arguments from the politicians and political parties who are voting no, and they just don’t stack up … It won’t be a Canberra Voice but a Voice to Canberra,” the Senator said.
“We’re lucky to be home to so many Indigenous communities and cultures and it is those communities who the Voice will be crucial. But I believe the Voice will benefit all Australians, it can be something that we can be proud of.”
LNP Herbert MP Phil Thompson said in early April he would be voting ‘no’, after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced the LNP would oppose the Voice.
Mr Thompson’s wife and children are Indigenous, and he said he did not support the Voice in its current form.
In a statement to the party room, Mr Thompson said the voice would not “create a better future for my children and children throughout Townsville, Palm Island and Australia”.
LNP Senator Susan McDonald will also vote ‘no’.
Ms McDonald described the current proposal as risky, lacking in detail, divisive and permanent.
“It carries legal pitfalls, it cannot be removed or altered if it proves unfit for purpose, and we cannot get clear information from proponents about the full scope of its functions,” she said.