Liberal MP Andrew Bragg will publicly lobby opposition leader Peter Dutton to embrace the Indigenous voice to parliament, labelling it a “liberal solution” to reconciliation.
On Wednesday, Bragg will release a position paper giving “five reasons the voice is right”, rejecting some of the central concerns of voice opponents that it discriminates on race or will fail like the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (Atsic).
Bragg has declared the Indigenous voice “isn’t a Labor project, it’s an Australian project”, labelling it the country’s best shot at reconciliation.
“This is not a ‘woke’ agenda. It’s not identity politics and it isn’t a separatist agenda which denigrates Australia,” Bragg said.
“Of all the major ideas put forward to advance reconciliation, from a national treaty through to misguided attempts to change history through moving Australia Day, the voice is the best idea with the highest chance of broad-based support.”
Bragg’s support for the voice comes despite the Liberals’ Indigenous affairs spokesperson, Julian Leeser, warning that the government is “in danger of losing [him]”, and Dutton concluding there is not enough detail yet on the proposal.
But Bragg’s position could still cause headaches for the Albanese government, with calls to explain the creation of the local and regional voices in addition to the national voice, and to establish an inquiry before introducing a bill to set up the referendum.
Bragg said that four of the five conditions he had set on support for a voice in his first speech had been met, but “further analysis” is needed on the supremacy of parliament, including more detail on the potential for high court “interference”. Dutton, by contrast, sent Anthony Albanese 15 questions for Labor about the voice.
The bid to entrench the voice in the constitution was boosted this week by the Greens resolving to support it, although the voice faces a renewed threat from the radical left after senator Lidia Thorpe quit the party to pursue “black sovereignty” instead.
On Tuesday, Dutton told the Coalition party room there was no need to settle the opposition’s position on the voice while it awaits more detail.
The Nationals senator, Jacinta Price, and other opponents to the voice, including the Institute of Public Affairs, argue the voice divides Australians based on race by giving Indigenous Australians special input into government decisions.
Bragg rejected the argument, noting it “assumes there are no race-based policies … in Australia”. He cited native title legislation, income management, assistance for Indigenous education and the stolen generations redress scheme as examples.
“At present, these laws are made and amended without any obligation on the commonwealth to consult Indigenous people. This is our illiberal past and present but it doesn’t have to be our future.”
On 29 January, the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, told Sky News that Australia had already experienced an Indigenous advisory body. “It was called Atsic and it didn’t shift the dial in closing the gap.”
Dutton has also referred to Atsic in three interviews about the voice in January, warning that “we don’t want to end up with an Atsic” that cannot be repealed because it is entrenched in the constitution.
Bragg said the voice “would not be the rebirth” of Atsic because it would not deliver government programs, mediate between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, conduct evaluations or be a clearing house for research.
Bragg argued that Liberals as “supporters of limited government, and individual and community liberty and responsibility” should be in favour of the voice, which he said would improve “agency and control” of Indigenous communities and “kill paternalism”.
Bragg praised John Howard for launching the constitutional recognition debate but noted “the concept of simple acknowledgment-style recognition morphed into a recognition which was to be substantive and consultative: the voice”.
Bragg aligned himself with Ken Wyatt, the first Indigenous person with portfolio responsibility for Indigenous Australians, and the report by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma that he commissioned, which advocated local and regional voices in addition to the national voice.
On Tuesday, the Coalition resolved to push for amendments to the referendum machinery bill to restore pamphlets explaining the yes and no cases, and public funding for both campaigns. It will oppose the bill if these are not agreed to.
Liberal Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, a leading moderate, told reporters in Canberra he has “long supported the recognition of First Australians in our constitution”.
“I don’t want to see a referendum put and fail, but I can see a scenario where the government’s failure to provide comprehensive answers, detailed to the Australian people, that is creating a real challenge in relation to whether Australians will give the support for this referendum,” he said, calling for a “fully informed” vote.
