Indigenous senator Jacinta Price wants to ensure local governments are further empowered, pointing to systemic problems she says should be ironed out before a national body is considered.
The NT senator, who grew up in Alice Springs, said the voices of rural and remote Indigenous communities weren’t being listened to.
“I would be pushing for leadership in those remote communities to be better heard through what already exists,” the former Alice Springs Town Council deputy mayor told ABC radio.
“I know they know their communities well. If they were strengthened they would certainly be able to contribute better to their communities, because they understand what’s going on on the ground.”
The Country Liberal Party senator, who sits in the Nationals’ partyroom, is staunchly opposed to a national body in the constitution, saying it would divide Australians down racial lines and add another layer of bureaucracy.
She said the systems in place are letting people down and need an overhaul.
“I know executive members of land councils, some of them aren’t necessarily literate, and this is the basics we have to go back to,” Senator Price said.
“There’s a whole lot of work that needs to be done before getting to the broader discussion. Until we do that, we can’t improve the situation on the ground.”
She says the disadvantage gap exists between rural and metropolitan areas, with Indigenous people in major cities having the same opportunity as non-Indigenous Australians.
“The gap exists between people in remote communities whose first language is not English in really remote places,” Senator Price said.
But this has been disputed by Indigenous activist and referendum working group member Jack Beetson.
“To say the gap is about rural and city is so wrong to begin with,” Professor Beetson told AAP.
“If you look at the cities, you get the same socio-economic problems you get elsewhere.
“Regardless of where you are, whether it’s geographical isolation or social or economic isolation, there’s no difference – you’ re still isolated one way or another.”
The leader of the Young Liberals has also expressed a willingness to go against the federal party’s position, saying he is open to voting ‘yes’ to a constitutionally enshrined voice.
Federal president Dimitry Chugg-Palmer said he wants to support the voice, but echoed calls for more details about the proposed body.
“Raising those questions and raising those doubts is not a way of trying to frustrate or stop it, it’s about being honest so we know what it is we are voting for,” he told the ABC’s Q&A program.
“I want to see us reconcile with First Australians. I think it’s the right thing to give them a say on decisions that affect them. That is a fundamentally Liberal principle.”
– AAP
