Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Can I start my speech by acknowledging all Australians regardless of identity, because, at the end of the day, there is only one race—the human race. It doesn't matter how you got here or where you came from or how you identify yourself, from a government perspective what matters is closing the gap and making sure that every person can be the best person they want to be. To do that government should focus on closing the gap, and what we know is that the real gap in this country is directly correlated to how far you live from a capital city. And, yes, I realise that makes Alice Springs furthest from a capital city and are probably the people that need the most help. But the fact is there are many regions in-between Alice Springs and all capital cities that also need help.

That's where we get to the rub about this bill. That is, there is no detail on how a voice will work, and what we've seen this week from Labor is that they claim to care about the environment, yet wouldn't support an inquiry into the impact of transmission lines on the environment. They claim to care about aged care, yet they won't say how many nurses they've got in aged-care centres on a 24-hour basis. They claim to care about energy prices, yet they didn't support a quarterly reporting system that would tell Australians how expensive their energy was. And, of course, they claim to care about women, yet they were happy to weaponise a rape allegation for their own purpose. So why should we believe the Labor Party when they say they care about Aboriginal people when they won't provide detail about the Voice? At the end of the day, if you're not prepared to provide detail about the Voice, why should the Australian people vote yes to this referendum when you want to make a permanent change to the Constitution?

I won't be voting for this bill, and I will be voting no to the referendum.