Former prime minister Scott Morrison has spoken against the indigenous Voice in a rare contribution to parliamentary debate.
These days, Mr Morrison mostly features only in speculative pieces about his retirement from parliament or gossip about his difficulties in securing a job post-politics.
The former PM rarely speaks to parliament since losing the federal election a year ago. Until Wednesday, his most recent contributions were to oppose a censure motion against his secret accumulation of portfolio responsibilities while in office or and to condole the late Queen Elizabeth, both late last year.
Mr Morrison’s opposition to the Voice dates back to his time as prime minister, when he and others in cabinet frustrated attempts by former indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt to secure support for a referendum on the issue.
Mr Morrison’s replacement as Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, has committed the party to opposing this year’s national referendum. A vote will be held sometime between October and December.
On Wednesday, the former PM spoke on the referendum as part of a days-long debate that gives every MP the chance to make their stance known publicly.
“Once established, the voice cannot be removed by the Parliament,” Mr Morrison said.
He claimed there was confusion about the legal powers that could be used by the advisory body, whose design was overseen by constitutional experts.
“This will inevitably lead to confusion and uncertainty over everything from our national defence to the operations of Centrelink,” he said.
The former PM pointed to a past instance of Liberal-led constitutional reform for indigenous recognition.
“The whole [1967] referendum gave long overdue recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as citizens of our nation and ensured they were counted in our official census,” Mr Morrison said.
“It was an important and necessary change that enjoyed widespread community and bipartisan support the 1967 Holt government referendum brought Australians together.”
Mr Morrison also took aim at sporting codes and business groups that have come out in publicly supporting the referendum.
“While keenly interested in the NRL’s opinion on hip-drop tackles and the six-again rule, I don’t think I’ll be referring to them for constitutional advice in making my decisions on this matter,” he said.
Mr Morrison’s speech was followed by the Labor member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour, whose seat takes in Alice Springs.
“It would have been easy to put this in the too hard basket just like the member for Cook (Mr Morrison) did for many years,” she said.
“It would have been political understandable for him to take a back seat.”
Indigenous activist and academic Noel Pearson has alleged that Mr Morrison wanted to pursue a form of constitutional recognition of the Voice while in office but was politically constrained from doing so.
“Australians are all equal,” he said. “And none of us are any more Australian than any other”.
MPs face another long night of talks on the Voice, ahead of a vote in June on the final wording of the referendum.
The lower house isn’t expected to vote on the Voice bill until next week when the debate will shift to the Senate.
