A senior Labor Minister has resurrected the Voice to Parliament from the dead just three days out from the federal election, claiming the controversial plan was now inevitable.
The Voice was rejected by more than 60 per cent of Australians in an expensive referendum costing the taxpayer an estimated $450 million in the middle of a cost of living crisis, but Foreign Minister Penny Wong has revealed the plan is not dead.
Speaking in an episode of the Betoota Talks podcast released on Monday, Ms Wong, who is a close ally of the Prime Minister, said Australians will one day question why there was ever debate about the Voice.
“I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years’ time and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality,” she said.
“I always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done – and I thought, all this fuss – it’ll become something, it’ll be like, people go ‘did we even have an argument about that?’
“Like, kids today, or even adults today, barely kind of clock that it used to be an issue.
“Remember how big an issue that was in the culture wars? Blimey, just endless.”
Ms Wong said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese believed the referendum was the right course of action and had acted on the desires of Indigenous leaders.
“He’s not a pull the pin kind of guy,’’ Senator Wong said.
“Yeah, [Anthony Albanese] thought it was the right thing to do and, you know, a lot of First Nations leaders wanted the opportunity.”
Mr Albanese earlier this month said he accepted the outcome of the failed Voice as he admitted his government had not done enough to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
“Neither side of politics has done well enough for First Nations people. That’s just a fact and that’s something that breaks my heart,” he said during the ABC’s leaders’ debate.
Mr Albanese previously committed to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full but has been accused of abandoning the pledge.
The Prime Minister has promised to continue efforts to Close the Gap ahead of the federal election.
The total cost of the failed Voice referendum was estimated at $450 million, including $364.6 million allocated in the 2023–24 budget for the national vote.
