Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the government is committed to a referendum that, if successful, will establish a single body in our Constitution. What aspects of the Calma-Langton report will the government adopt if Australians vote yes for the Voice referendum?

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

I thank the member for his question, and I thank him for the work that he's done over a long period of time in supporting a Voice to this parliament, including on the committee of which he was the joint chair along with Senator Patrick Dodson, a great Australian. I have read that report. It's a substantial contribution. The committee was established by the former government, but in a bipartisan way, as a result of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017, which was itself, as you are aware, the end of a five-year process of consultation. After that report, of course, Calma and Langton produced their report. The member wasn't a member of the former cabinet, but we know from Ken Wyatt, who has my utmost respect—the former minister for Indigenous affairs in this place, who had the great honour of being the first Aboriginal Australian to hold that position—that it did go to the cabinet not once but twice previously. I have read that report. It's a substantial report. It indicates the principles that had been established then by the Referendum Working Group, which, as the member would be aware, has outlined eight principles going forward as well.

I would point this out: in terms of the process or way that constitutional change occurs, the Constitution outlines the principle, as the member would be aware—and I'd encourage him to read Justice French's contribution on the Constitution. But the member is a participant, not an observer. This is not the government's idea; this is an idea that has come from the bottom up, that the former government was responsible for.

Let me say this: in March, legislation will be introduced—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Do they want to listen?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Groom is on a warning, and others will shortly follow if this unacceptable noise continues. I give the call back to the Prime Minister.

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

In March, legislation will be introduced to this parliament. Then a committee will be established—and I am open to the form of that committee. I want to maximise support for this referendum. I'm not here to say, 'This is the government's position; take it or leave it.' I want to engage genuinely. I have met with the Leader of the Opposition on no fewer than six occasions.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister for infrastructure!

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

This is not for the government. This is for the people of Australia.

An opposition member interjecting

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not normal legislation. You're an idiot!

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will hear from the member for Wannon.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat made a very unparliamentary remark and she should withdraw.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To assist the House, I call the member for Ballarat.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has the call.

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

(Extension of time granted) I say this to everyone in the chamber. In March, when the legislation is introduced, we will have a committee process. It won't be a government process; it will be a process of this parliament. I want the coalition to participate in it. I want the crossbench to participate in it. I want to maximise support for this. I make an offer here to the opposition to participate in that process in goodwill.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bowman is warned.

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

Part of that will be the development of further detail beyond the principles that have been established by the referendum working group. Then, if the referendum is successful, there will be a process in which, again, I will seek as much bipartisanship as possible.

The goodwill that's been shown by the government—for example, members of the opposition, including some who are now in this chamber, approached government members who were working on the committee about the referendum structure—not the second bill but the first bill now before the Senate—and said that, for them, the publication of a booklet was important and would make a difference. So we agreed. I was approached last week. I spoke with the minister, Senator Farrell. I spoke with the minister for indigenous affairs, and we conveyed very clearly, our support for that. That wasn't our starting position, but this process cannot be one of Labor versus Liberal. We have to rise above this, and I respect the fact—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Hume! If there is one more interjection, people will leave the chamber. I give the call to the Prime Minister.

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

I ask those opposite to join me in having an open mind but importantly an open heart when it comes to these issues. My colleague the minister just spoke about how Australians who had supported this change would feel the day after a referendum if it's successful. I ask you to think about the counterfactual as well—how Indigenous Australians will feel if it's not successful, how Australians will feel and how Australia is perceived internationally, including by our economic partners in the region.

This is a major issue. I cannot do more than stand here, in this parliament, and offer a genuine engagement in order to achieve a positive outcome. I think there are people of good will in faith groups, in sporting organisations, in the business community and in civil society groups but, most importantly, among Indigenous Australians themselves who want this change and have waited a long time. And I say this: if we do not recognise Indigenous Australians in our Constitution this year, when will we? When will we?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll call the Leader of the Opposition on indulgence, but I'll be listening carefully to what he says.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

DUTTON (—) (): Thank you, Mr Speaker. We were very happy to grant an extension of time for the Prime Minister on a very important topic. I think the first point to make in response to the Prime Minister's answer is that every Australian Prime Minister has a big heart and wants to see an improved situation for Indigenous Australians. There's no moral high ground here. There's no lecturing to take place. Every Australian wants to see a better outcome for Australians, starting with those little boys and girls in Alice Springs at the moment who are living an unimaginable life. So nobody occupies the high moral ground here.

We have approached the situation—this proposal put by the government—in good faith. The Prime Minister made reference to a bipartisan arrangement, which included the member for Berowra, over a period of time. It included, over the prime ministerships of Gillard, of Abbott, of Turnbull and of Morrison, a bipartisan approach. And there was legitimate engagement. It resulted in us taking a policy to the last election which allowed for a local and regional voice, because we demonstrated that we wanted to hear, listen and act upon those local Indigenous elders and women and the voices that they were providing to the Australian public, in terms how their communities could be improved. That was our approach.

Since the election, there has been no bipartisan engagement in terms of the approach around the legislation. The government took an initial position, in relation to the mechanism bill, that there would be no booklet distributed to Australians, where, particularly for Australians where English is not their first language, people wanted to sit down and read the 'no' and the 'yes' case, to be informed in terms of the decision that they were being asked to make about changing our Constitution.

Australians in their millions, at the moment, have goodwill and have an approach which I think is reflected in the view that we have taken constructively as an opposition—that is, they want to understand the detail that the Prime Minister's proposing. There's no sense in saying that this is somebody else's process and we've just come along as an observer in relation to it. The fact is that people want detail. The very reasonable question asked by the member for Berowra earlier was whether the report, constantly referred to by the Prime Minister—the Calma-Langton report of 272 pages—is being adopted by the government. The Prime Minister, again today, refused to answer that question.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I ask the Leader of the Opposition to conclude his indulgence.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hence the confusion and lack of detail that is confusing for Australians. If the Prime Minister is after an outcome, the approach at the moment is not going to lead to that outcome.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm asking him to conclude his indulgence.

The Minister for Home Affairs will remain silent.