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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused the government of making up the details of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament “on the run”.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In a speech at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land on July 31,Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the detail of the Voice would be left to federal parliamentarians to debate rather than let it be a central element of a proposed referendum.

“It’s an incredibly important issue ... there is a lot of concern when you speak to people in private about whether the government really has thought all of this through as to what the implications will be — the basic questions can’t yet be answered,” Dutton said during a press conference at parliament on Friday.

“The original position of the prime minister was to put a question on the Saturday and then provide the detail on the Monday. They’ve backflipped from that position.

“I see[Labor senator] Pat Dodson’s now talking about legislation,I don’t know if[Minister for Indigenous Australians] Linda Burney is. They all seem to be on different timelines.”

Dutton said the work on the Voice was not what he expected of the “well-oiled Labor machine”.

“If they’ve got a campaign to roll out,it’s pretty seamless,and I just don’t see that at the moment. They’re making up a lot of it on the run,so I think there are questions that reasonably should be answered.”

In an interview with ABC on Friday morning,Dodson said “the detail will be resolved when it’s ready. This is a process of consultation,of collaboration. There are a lot of moving components to it. It’s not like putting the car in the garage and expecting the mechanic to fix it overnight.”

Dodson did not promote legislation without a referendum,which he described as “the first step”.

Asked about Indigenous critics of the Voice,such as Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price or Greens senator Lidia Thorpe,who hascalled the referendum a “waste of time”,Dodson said “there was no real difference” in their aims,but noted the disputes “were not helpful to reconciling the nation”.

There isgrowing disquiet among some supporters that not enough is being done to address criticism of the Voice’s scope to ensure the final amendment is capable of securing widespread support.

Burney released a statement after Dutton aired his criticism saying she would “continue reaching out across the parliament to build consensus and support for this important nation-building project. The Voice to parliament is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make the much-needed structural changes that will lead to improvements in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

The referendum working group will meet next week to discuss the next steps,after its first meeting was cancelled following the death of the Queen and the subsequent suspension of parliament.

During a condolence motion in parliament on Friday,Burney,a Wiradjuri woman who is helming the Albanese government’s work on the Voice,was one of several Indigenous MPs and senators to speak about the impact of British colonialism on Aboriginal people.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has defended Australia’s British colonial legacy.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Burney said she grew up singingGod save the Queen in primary school while not being counted as an Australian and being denied the same citizenship rights as her non-Indigenous peers.

Price used her upper house speech to speak of the connection between famed painter Albert Namatjira and Queen Elizabeth,who admired his art,while also defending the role of the British Empire in Australia’s history.

“This landmass we call home was never going to be left untouched by anyone other than our First Peoples,” Price said. “We can be grateful that it was,in fact,the British who settled here before any other possible colonists.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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