The Albanese government has authorised $9.5m of spending for a voice civics and awareness campaign to include the “facts of the voice” but insists it is not funding a de facto yes campaign.
The new $9.5m was contained in the “decisions taken but not announced” section of October’s budget, revealed in a legislative instrument made by the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, on Thursday.
The funding has fuelled controversy over Labor’s decision not to provide public funding to the yes and no campaigns, as the shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, has warned the government appears to be tipping the scales in favour of the yes case.
The Coalition is pushing for equal funding of the official yes and no campaigns as the referendum machinery bill returns to parliament.
Crossbench senator Jacqui Lambie has backed Labor over the decision against public funding but the independent senator David Pocock is calling on the government to go further to safeguard the referendum, including fact-checking of claims in the pamphlet and real-time donation disclosure.
The explanatory statement for the civics and education program said it could start as early as March and would “focus on delivering facts about the constitution, referendums as the mechanism to change the constitution, and information about the voice proposal”.
The $9.5m would be spent on upgrading the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice website, including providing information in 30 languages; “developing a more comprehensive information program on the facts of the voice proposal and relevant civics information”; and “paid media placements for the voice information program to significantly expand reach across the broader community”.
The civics education component would be provided by an unspecified “non-government organisation with relevant expertise”, and would be “separate to a campaign run by the Australian Electoral Commission on the mechanics of voting in a referendum”.
“This program would focus on the available facts on the voice. It would not be a yes campaign – but would increase understanding of the issues relating to the referendum question.”
The $9.5m would also fund a boost to First Nations media for “delivery of civics education and information on the referendum and voice proposal in First Nations communities across Australia”.
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, responded to the measure by telling Guardian Australia he is “concerned that the government is putting fingers on the scales – ultimately developing an unfair process will harm the yes case and harm public trust”.
“We argued for a yes and no referendum booklet so that Australians are informed when they make their choice. There should also be formal yes and no cases so that Australians can hear the arguments.
“I believe they should also receive equal funding.
“The government says this program is about answering questions. If they want to answer the questions people have, they should start by answering Peter Dutton’s questions.”
Earlier on Monday the leader of the house, Tony Burke, told Radio National that Labor had committed to give equal funding to the yes and no campaigns, as it was giving “zero” public funding to both.
Pocock told reporters in Canberra he would “like to see an emphasis on some fact-checking if the government does go with the pamphlet”.
“There’s a strong case it should be fact-checked, that people are getting the right information.”
Pocock also called for “ways to increase transparency”. “It’s possible to have more transparency around who’s donating to these campaigns – we should know that before the referendum, not eight months after, as we’ve seen with the election.”
Lambie told Guardian Australia her party was “happy with the machinery [bill] as is but we don’t want to be paying any extra money out that’s going to cause more division”, which she said would be the consequence “if you start giving out public funding to each group”.
“You put out for and against but anything else I believe will cause division … Go raise your own money and get on with it.”
