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The Victorian Coalition will allow all its MPs a free vote on the Indigenous Voice to federal parliament in direct contrast to federal leader Peter Dutton who has forced his frontbench to campaign against constitutional change.
State frontbench MPs thrashed out their position at a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday, and unanimously agreed to give MPs the voice to vote or campaign Yes or No, rather than being forced into a party position, according to a senior source with knowledge of the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Opposition leader John Pesutto has granted his MPs a free vote on the Indigenous Voice to federal parliament.Credit: Jason South
Opposition leader John Pesutto will put the decision to the Liberal party room on Tuesday, while Nationals leader Peter Walsh will put it to his Nationals colleagues, where it is expected to be rubber-stamped.
The Coalition’s stance comes a month after Dutton formally announced his team would oppose the government’s model for an Indigenous Voice to parliament and campaign against it because it was risky and divisive.
That decision prompted former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt to resign his membership of the Liberal Party, and the Coalition’s Indigenous Australians spokesman Julian Leeser to quit the frontbench.
Three senior federal Liberals, Simon Birmingham, Paul Fletcher and Marise Payne, spoke out in shadow cabinet against the party’s plan to oppose the Voice, The Guardian reported last month.
Federal shadow ministers considered an alternative position proposed by Leeser to allow all members to have a free say on the Voice at least until a parliamentary committee considered calls to amend the constitutional alteration bill.
The state Coalition’s position avoids a potential public spat, and further erosion of support for Pesutto who unsuccessfully pushed to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal party room.
Coalition MPs are split on the Albanese government’s referendum to enshrine in the Constitution a Voice to federal parliament, and to recognise Indigenous Australians in the nation’s founding document. The body would be able to make representations to the parliament and the government on issues that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
James Newbury, the opposition equality, environment and climate change spokesperson, told the Sunday Age it was time for the Victorian Liberal Party to let the community know its “constructive position on the Voice”.
Liberal frontbench MP James Newbury is pushing for a free vote on the referendum. Credit: Joe Armao
“I think the community expects us to have a position soon, and I trust the party leadership in ensuring that happens,” he said. “The most constructive way forward is to allow all members a free vote and talk about the reasons why they may or may not support the proposal.”
Pesutto is expected to wait until the release of a parliamentary report on the Voice before forming a position himself, but has said he was keeping an “open mind” on supporting the referendum.
The referendum will be held sometime between October and December.
The Yes campaign is ahead in every state and territory, according to the most comprehensive poll conduct on the proposal. A YouGov poll of 15,060 Australians, commissioned by the group behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart, found the Yes vote was on 51 per cent across the nation, while 34 per cent said they would vote No and 15 per cent were undecided.
The first dedicated state-by-state poll on the Voice to parliament has recorded the Yes vote on 51 per cent across the nation, while 34 per cent said they would vote No and 15 per cent were undecided.
The new poll had the Yes vote on a higher support level than the results of the latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for this masthead by research company Resolve Strategic, which recorded a Yes vote of 46 per cent, the No vote on 31 per cent and the undecided vote on 22 per cent.
The YouGov polling was conducted between March 1 and 21 amid a political brawl over the wording of the constitutional amendment but before Leeser’s resignation from the opposition frontbench.
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