Greens Leader Adam Bandt has accused the Liberals of being “a small racist rump sliding into irrelevance” in response to the party’s failure to support the Voice to parliament referendum.

“The rest of the country is starting to reckon with its past as we march towards a treaty,but Peter Dutton is trying to ignite a culture war,” Bandt said.

“Peter Dutton sat out the apology,and under his leadership,the Liberals have found themselves on the wrong side of history yet again. The passage of the Voice referendum is a crucial pathway towards Truth and Treaty,and its failure would set back these important reforms by decades.

“We will be strongly campaigning Yes at the referendum.”

Australian Greens First Nations’ spokesperson,and Yamatji-Noongar woman,Senator Dorinda Cox said she was disappointed,but not surprised,by the Liberal Party’s decision to oppose the Voice referendum.

“The Liberals continue to stop progress in this country by muddying the waters and pandering to their dwindling conservative base,rather than listening to the communities they claim to represent,” she said.

“Constitutional recognition has been pursued by First Nations leaders across this country for generations,including Yunupingu who passed away this week. How much longer do we have to wait before First Nations people are recognised as the First Peoples of this continent? How many more of our Old People need to die before we gain this recognition and respect?

“As a Greens member of the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum,I will ensure that the wording of the referendum meets the expectations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I won’t let the wording be watered down by conservatives catering to racist ideologies who want to divide us and hold Australia back.”

Dean Parkin,director of the Yes Campaign Alliance,has released a statement in the wake of the Liberal partyroom decision to Oppose the Voice to parliament in its current form.

He says Constitutional recognition through a Voice to parliament is an invitation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the nation. And,it has come after decades of discussion and consultation.

“Today,the Liberal Party has turned its back on that invitation,” he said.

The statement went on to say:

While today’s decision was made by a number of politicians in Canberra,the referendum is a decision for the Australian people. Indigenous people have put their faith in the people of Australia,because they will get it right.

We are confident that this year we will see the country unite and vote yes for practical and meaningful change,and in the process bring Australians of all backgrounds together to connect with 65,000 years of continuous culture.

The parliament is finishing important work in the public consultation and we urge people to voice their support in that process. Then,the referendum will be out of the hands of politicians and in the hands of the Australian people and we are confident they will vote yes.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expected the opposition to formally oppose the Voice.

“The press conference today,it was all about politics,” Albanese said on ABC Radio Sydney.

“It appears some people don’t want a Voice,they would prefer a whisper.”

Albanese said he had worked as hard as he could to foster bipartisanship,a claim Coalition figures strongly deny.

“There’s been an extraordinary level of consultation and openness,” Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s description of the Voice referendum as the “Canberra Voice” was a cheap shot.

Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney’s Simon Marnie that the accusation that the process was all about Canberra “is a pretty cheap shot really,which diminishes the extraordinary amount of work done particularly by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but other people in the process as well who have arrived at this position.”

The prime minster said he remained hopeful the referendum proposal would pass with the support of the Australian people. He said the proposal was the culmination of years of work involving more than 1200 people in the process.

“This isn’t something that’s come from politicians. This is something that’s come from the ground up from Indigenous people themselves,” Albanese said on the ABC.

“It’s pretty obvious that there’s no genuine position from the Coalition,tragically,coming forward.”

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of misleading Australians on the Voice.

Responding to the Liberal Party’s decision to oppose the government’s referendum model,Burney said Dutton skipped the apology to the stolen generations delivered by then prime minister Kevin Rudd.

“Mr Dutton boycotted the apology and I hope Mr Dutton doesn’t repeat his mistakes of the past,” she said.

The Liberal Party has proposed local and regional voices instead of a national Voice,arguing Labor’s “Canberra Voice” will not lead to practical solutions.

“I want to say loud and clear,loud and clear,the Labor government supports regional voices,” she said,referring to Indigenous representative bodies created in recent years in Victoria and South Australia.

“The Voice will make sure those in remote and regional communities are heard,and it’s simply misleading to suggest anything otherwise,” she said. “I hope the Liberal Party is not repeating the mistakes in the past.”

LIVE:Hear what Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has to say in response to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s opposition to the Voice referendum.

Former NSW deputy premier Paul Toole has held on to the leadership of the National Party by one vote in a tight ballot less than two weeks after the Coalition was swept from government by voters.

The party’s leadership team will remain unchanged despite a strong challenge for the top job from Dubbo MP and former agriculture minister Dugald Saunders at the first party room meeting since the March poll.

Toole confirmed his leadership flanked by senior colleagues Sarah Mitchell,Gurmesh Singh and Bronnie Taylor,who had gathered for coffee on Macquarie St earlier on Wednesday in an apparent show of support for the unsuccessful Saunders.

The former deputy premier retained the leadership by eight votes to seven,with one informal vote,but insisted the decision was a strong result showing that the NSW Nationals “stick with their leaders”.

Taylor,the former regional health minister,retained her position as deputy leader and remains the party’s most senior female,fending off a challenge from Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall.