Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Well, a learned colleague once wrote about what the Voice was about, and he said this. He wrote that Noel Pearson proposes 'a consultative body that merely provides advice. It cannot veto parliament but rather it provides greater input into the policy-making process which should lead to policy improvements and greater buy-in from Indigenous people across Australia. It is important that, if the parliament is going to make laws about Indigenous people, Indigenous people should be consulted about those laws. There is nothing incongruent about articulation of that rule of the Constitution. The Constitution is where rules for parliament are set out. In my view, the proposal for an advisory body has real merit and sits most comfortably with the nature of the Constitution. It is the kind of machinery clause that Griffith, Barton and their colleagues might have drafted, had they turned their minds to it.'

These were indeed very wise words from the member for Berowra in 2016, from Uphold & Recognise. The member for Berowra knows—

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