A bill to help essential workers and vulnerable Australians find housing through a$10 billion fund will also be introduced to parliament in the coming fortnight,according to multiple government sources.
The government will introduce legislation to parliament in March setting up the referendum on the Voice,after it receives the final recommendations from an Indigenous working group advising it on the wording of the referendum question and the constitutional amendment.
The government aims to pass the legislation by June,with a public vote to be set sometime between September and December.
‘There are always those who want to create confusion and provoke division,to try and stall progress.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
After pressuring the government for weeks over a “lack of detail” on the Voice,Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is expected to use the return of parliament to switch to cost-of-living issues such as power prices and interest rates.
Albanese has over the past week changed his approach to responding to the calls for more detail,conceding that many of the questions will be a matter for parliament after the public vote.
Loading
Previously he was referring to a 250-page report by Indigenous academics Marcia Langton and Tom Calma,which the government has not adopted as its policy.
In his speech on Sunday,Albanese will say it is important to focus on the two principles of “recognition” and “consultation” – not the mechanics of how the Voice will operate.
“The mechanics of the Voice won’t be written into the Constitution,” the prime minister will say.
Citing the example of the Constitution giving the power to the Commonwealth to make laws for the defence of the country,Albanese will point out that the founding document “doesn’t spell out the size of the ADF,or where it should be based or what sort of defence hardware we should have”.
Following the lead of the people who drafted the Constitution,Albanese will say the government must be prepared to put its faith in the judgment of the Australian people.
“They believed in the Constitution’s pivotal role in our democracy. But they didn’t imagine it was perfect,complete,the final word set in stone,” he will say.
“That’s why they included specific and detailed provision for altering it.
“Yes,they set the bar high:a majority of voters and a majority of states. But the architects of our federation understood that democracy is dynamic,not static.”
Loading
Building on the 1967 referendum,which recognised Indigenous Australians as being part of the population,Albanese will say this year’s referendum would be an opportunity “not to remove something negative,but to add something positive”.
Labor senator and Aboriginal elder Pat Dodson on Saturday warned Australians won’t get another chance at reconciliation for another generation if the proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament fails,urging Dutton to back the referendum.
Dodson said he had previously committed to not attacking opponents of the Voice because “they are entitled to their opinions,as wrongheaded as they might be” but “let me tell you,with so much nonsense and mischief being peddled out there – there have been times where it’s been hard to hold my tongue”.
“There are some out there who are pressing for more detail,” Dodson said. “They will never get enough ... Our political process is in the parliament,and that’s where the detail is always settled and proposed. So don’t get distracted by the call for more detail.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.