One of the leaders of the campaign against a national Indigenous voice has backed the Liberals’ policy to establish local and regional bodies.
Warren Mundine says a constitutionally-enshrined national voice will add bureaucratic layers to government and not deliver practical outcomes.
The former politician says support needs to be targeted towards rural and remote communities instead.
“This is not going to be doing the heavy lifting that needs to be done in the regional and remote areas. This is where the major problems are,” he told ABC radio.
“If you look at the Closing the Gap figures, you will see the biggest problem is not between black and white. The biggest problem is between regional Aboriginals and city Aboriginals.
“I support the coalition’s push for regional and remote communities to be able to do the practical outcomes they need to be done.”
The Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr man, who was Labor’s national president before quitting the party and unsuccessfully running for Liberals, said Indigenous people were already accounted for in the constitution by virtue of being Australian.
He added that First Nations Australians were well-represented in Canberra and didn’t need another body.
“We have always had Australian citizenship. So just like every other Australian, we are in the constitution and we have the same opportunities,” Mr Mundine said.
“The idea that Aboriginals do not have a voice is just a lie and nonsense. I’ve been going to Canberra for 30 years and I can tell you there’s just about every lobby group in the Aboriginal community there.”
Labor minister Tanya Plibersek rubbished suggestions the advisory body would overreach into every single decision made by the government.
She said it would help deliver practical outcomes by consulting with Indigenous people and involving them in decision making processes.
“This is what First Nations Australians have been asking for decades now, to be listened to on matters that impact on their lives,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
Ms Plibersek said targeted programs informed by consultation led to better outcomes.
“We know when we’ve got Aboriginal health services that the health outcomes are better,” she said.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce raised concerns about the difficulty in overhauling such a body if it was enshrined in the constitution.
“You can’t have an election to remove them, how will you deal with that forever?” he told the same program.
“No matter who changes the government, they stay the same. That for a politician should ring some bells.”
He said the inclusion of an Indigenous advisory body would essentially split Australia down racial lines and he asked ‘yes’ proponents to explain why non-Indigenous people born in Australia would have “different rights”.
– AAP
