Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney urged Australians not to be side-tracked by “culture wars”.Credit:Rhett Wyman
Voice architect Megan Davis,a constitutional law professor at UNSW,said the Voice would have more urgent priorities,and the political debate subsumed by “gotcha games between politicians” proved why the body was needed.
“Our lives continue to be a political football,” Davis said.
“Every day our people die in disproportionate numbers from preventable causes,are jailed when others would rarely be,and are denied basic necessities like clean running water – all with solutions in plain sight. We have so many problems and the date of Australia Day is nowhere near the most wicked.”
The Coalition sees Burney as a weak link in government efforts to explain the Voice to voters after she told the chamber on Tuesday it “won’t be giving advice on changing Australia Day”. The view was later contradicted by some Indigenous leaders and legal experts.
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley,who earlier in the day called on Burney to correct the parliamentary record,asked whether the Voice would “have the power to advise the government to abolish Australia Day”.
But the minister doubled down,saying the Voice “will not be bothered by culture wars”. Delivering a heartfelt plea,she described the terrible living conditions and poor life expectancy outcomes experienced by many Indigenous people in remote communities.