Key Points
- David Littleproud said the Nationals are against legislating local and regional Voices.
- The Liberals are in support of legislating regional voices rather than having a body enshrined in the constitution.
- Deputy federal opposition leader Sussan Ley has hit out at NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman after his decision to support the Voice.
Nationals leader David Littleproud has come out against legislating an Indigenous Voice, putting him at odds with coalition counterparts.
While the Liberals have come out against the Indigenous Voice referendum, the opposition has called for local and regional Voices to be legislated rather than having a body enshrined in the constitution.
Littleproud said a regional and local Voice model was unlikely to work.
"It might work in suburbs in capital cities, but when you're talking about representative bodies in rural and remote Australia, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, hundreds of different diverse communities that have different challenges and needs," he told ABC Insiders on Sunday.
"I have a real concern about going back to regional models."
The Nationals leader brushed off concerns a legislated Voice model would not be enacted if the coalition won the next election.
"If the National Party doesn't get comfort with that, that's what we stand for," he said.
"We'll work through from the lived experience that we have from representing rural and remote Australia."
Susan Ley hits back at NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman
The divisions within the coalition on its Voice position come as federal Liberals hit out at NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman's decision to support the Voice.
The state opposition leader said he would vote Yes in the upcoming referendum, saying he believed the potential rewards outweighed possible risks in establishing the body.
Deputy federal opposition leader Sussan Ley said Speakman was mistaken on the issue.
"Mark Speakman's a good person and a great opposition leader in NSW and I support him, but I don't agree with him on this issue," she told Sky News on Sunday.
"He's got this one wrong."
The Indigenous Voice referendum is set to take place between October and December this year, with voters to decide whether to enshrine the body in the country's constitution.
Liberals for Yes co-convenor Sean Gordon welcomed Speakman's stance, saying a Voice to parliament would lead to better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
"Mark Speakman has shown real leadership by supporting constitutional recognition for Indigenous people and giving them a say on matters that affect them to help close the gap," Gordon said.
Speakman previously made clear he would allow opposition MPs freedom to choose how they vote in the referendum.
He has called for changes to the proposal being put to the Australian people, urging the government to separate proposals for constitutional recognition and a voice to form two different questions.
Ley said the coalition was committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
"What Anthony Albanese is doing is painting every single member of the Liberal National Party and every single Australian who ... will vote no as being against that constitutional recognition," she said.
Trade Minister Don Farrell said he was optimistic about the Voice's success.
"The campaign to change the constitution was always going to be a difficult campaign," he told Sky News on Sunday.
"I continue to believe that the majority of Australians will support a change to the Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians ... through a voice to parliament."
