Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue’s opinion has become central to the debate over the Voice’s scope.Credit:Andrew Meares
Five members of the working group,who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements,confirmed Donaghue did not speak in favour of watering down the Voice when he presented to the group with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on March 9.
The solicitor-general’s written advice has only been seen by cabinet ministers and a small group of top Indigenous leaders,who were required to read it in a secure room and unable to keep the document.
Albanese has spent weeksrepeatedly resisting the opposition’s demands to release the advice,spurring claims of secrecy and widening the partisan gulf over the referendum. Citing media reports,Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week claimed Labor went against Donaghue’s advice to remove the words “executive government”,which would have stopped the Voice from providing advice to ministers and departments.
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Former High Court judges Robert French and Kenneth Hayne and top silk Bret Walker all support the inclusion of executive government. But conservative jurists,including former High Court justice Ian Callinan and constitutional expert Greg Craven,had raised fears the ability to consult ministers and public service departments would give rise to waves of litigation prompted by claims the government did not properly listen to the Voice before making a decision.
Albanese,referring tochanges made to the third clause of the proposed constitutional amendment,said on Tuesday the amendment was “consistent with the views put forward by constitutional conservatives” and was a “conservative modest proposal that has been made even tighter as a result of the additional words that were added between the Garma speech”.