The National Co-Design Voice report Released
The National Co-Design Voice report Released
The Report singles out the community support for a referendum as a recommendation to government. The final Voice model cannot be settled until Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been adequately consulted. They have not been consulted yet on the proposed government model, only a series of models, suggestions and ideas presented by the Senior Advisory Group in a 300 page interim report. However the report is substantive and there’s enough information to proceed to a referendum. Check out Mark Leibler’s piece here. He explains the report as a pathway forward.
James Blackwell from UNSW also writes in the Canberra Times on the clear pathway:
“Now that this proposal is public, the government should hold the vote first, then move to the final stages of design and implementation.”
There is sufficient information about what a Voice might look like to proceed to a referendum in the next term of Parliament.
Finally, the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs tabled its report into constitutional reform and referendums. You can read the report here. The ILC made a submission to the Committee which you can read here.
The Committee recommended many positive updates to the Referendum rules and anticipates a referendum on Indigenous voice in the next term of parliament:
“The Committee recommends that the Australian Government ensure that the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 and the referendum process more generally is modernised well in advance of any referendum on the question of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, which is expected to occur in the next term of Parliament, or any other future referendum.”
