Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are fair-minded and fair dinkum. The problem is that this government is not. They come in here every question time with their confected moral outrage on the issue of the Voice. How about coming in here and providing some details for the Australian people? How about coming in here and answering the questions that we absolutely, on behalf of the Australian people, deserve answers to. Time and again this government has been caught speaking out of both sides of the mouth on voice, treaty and makarrata. The problem is the Prime Minister signed us all up to the Uluru statement in full but refuses to explain what it looks like in full.

We have a prime minister in hiding and a minister for Indigenous Australians who appears to be doing more harm than good, who is just not up to the job, who is all over the shop. This loss of confidence has come through the refusal of members of the government to clearly explain what this voice is about and what it will mean for all Australians. Remember when we asked the minister about the Voice and Australia Day? Remember when she said the Voice would not provide advice on Australia Day, only to be immediately contradicted by legal experts and members of the 'yes' campaign? Time and again she has misled this House and hidden from scrutiny. Remember the millions of dollars allocated to the makarrata commission? The minister did not even appear to know about taxpayers' money being allocated for something this government claimed did not even exist. These are the sorts of questions that we are asking on behalf of the Australian people.

Today, when given the chance to hold to account her own appointee to the Referendum Working Group, Marcia Langton, the minister failed to do so. We saw Marcia Langton label those advocating the 'no' position as either racist or stupid. This is a window into the psyche of the 'yes' campaign and a window into the psyche of the modern Labor Party. They refuse to accept that everyday Australians do not like what they see when it comes to the Voice. This is now a test for the Minister for Indigenous Australians. If she does not remove Marcia Langton from the working group, then she's actually endorsing those views. She's endorsing those views. This is the 'yes' campaign's deplorables moment, and it's really disappointing. We want a fair and honest debate. We don't want personal sledges. We don't want the attacks that are used to morally blackmail the Australian people in the same way that the Leader of the House tried to do with the Leader of the Opposition today, making people on this side accountable for remarks by the 'no' campaign. It's time for the Minister for Indigenous Australians to consider that in question time the job is to answer questions.

Why would we, as a country, not go forward with something that we could all agree on—constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians? This is the appeal that the Leader of the Opposition made, even before the writs were issued to the Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister has tied constitutional recognition of our First Australians to a concept called the Voice which he cannot explain, which his ministers cannot explain and which the key minister—the Minister for Indigenous Australians—cannot explain. This is a prime minister who runs and hides and lacks conviction to argue the case. If I was a 'yes' campaigner, I would be so disappointed by the Prime Minister not standing up for the cause that he believes in and not having the courage of his convictions. We in the Liberal and National parties have the courage of our convictions. We ask, on behalf of all Australians, for the detail that this government refuses to provide on the Voice. (Time expired)

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