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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Soofia Tariq

Voice to Parliament could still be legislated if referendum fails

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

The Voice to Parliament will not have judicial powers to take the government to court if recommendations it makes are not implemented by Parliament experts say, however the Liberal Party is still calling on the Labor government to release more detail about the advisory body.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also did not rule out legislating the Voice to Parliament if the referendum fails saying he is confident Australia will vote yes.

Australians will vote in a referendum in the second half of this year on changing the constitution to recognise a permanent Parliamentary Indigenous advisory body, known as the Voice, but the details of how the Voice will operate will be decided by Parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been questioned over the potential "legal minefield" constitutionally recognising the Voice to Parliament could cause.

He admitted he has not approached the Solicitor-General for advice about possible litigation arising if recommendations made by the Voice were not implemented by the government.

Co-author of the Indigenous Voice Co-design process report, Tom Calma said the Voice will only be an advisory body with no judicial power to take the government to court if it does not implement recommendations made.

Co-author of the Indigenous Voice Co-design process report Tom Calma. Photo by Karleen Minney.

"There's nothing in the constitution that will give any powers. This is a non-judiciary body, it's going to be created by legislation," Mr Calma said.

He said the importance of enshrining the Voice in the constitution is to recognise Indigenous people, but the structure of the Voice will be decided by Parliament.

"The enshrinement in the constitution is to recognise that Aboriginal tribes and other people were here and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have structure to be able to provide advice to the government and to the Parliament and how that's going to be structured will be determined by the Parliament."

Associate Professor at ANU Law School, Ron Levy said it is clear that the Voice would not be able to take the government to court.

"The whole point of an advisory body is that you cannot take a substantive decision of the Voice to court. You can't follow it up and use the courts to force the government to do it, because that would undermine the whole point of the voice being an advisory body."

Prime Minister Albanese also did not rule out still legislating the Voice if the referendum produces a no vote.

Tom Calma said legislating the Voice after a failed referendum would possibly hinge on "the margin of how much it was lost by".

"It's something that either the government of the day might want to put up, it might come up as a private member's bill, it might be put up by the opposition, to say we'll still create a Voice by legislation.

"The opposition, when in government, were seriously considering a legislative approach, so they can't be opposed to it if they were for it when they were in government".

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has not yet announced if the Liberal Party will support the referendum, but has continued to call on the government to provide more detail about the Voice to Parliament.

Prime Minister Albanese has said the Indigenous Voice Co-design process report, written by Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, will form the foundation of the Voice.

The government has established a referendum engagement group and a working group, who are providing advice to the government on when and what information is released publicly.

Tom Calma, a member of the referendum working group, said "we've got a couple more meetings to go before more information will be released" about the details of how the Voice will operate.

Ron Levy said releasing "excessive detail" about the Voice is dangerous as it would mislead people about what will be included in the constitution.

"The problem with releasing a whole lot of detail beforehand is that people will think that that detail is being constitutionalized.

"It would be misleading to set out a very complex plan, and then have people vote on that thinking that would be constitutionally enshrined.

"On the other hand, the government ought to and it will, set out possibilities, it will be very, hopefully, clear about the fact that things can change over time."

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