One Year on From The Voice and Opposition Warns of 2nd Labor Term

Murray Watt defended the government’s stance, stating the referendum had strong support until the opposition’s campaign eroded it.

Vote No signage is seen at an early voting centre for the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 13, 2023. AAP Image/James Ross

On the first anniversary of The Voice referendum, the opposition has tried to leverage the date to push voters to prevent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from securing a second term.

“It’s becoming clear that a re-elected Labor government would be a Labor-Greens activist minority government. If that happens, the type of chaos, risk, uncertainty, and division our country avoided with The Voice would become very real,” stated Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

On Oct. 14, 2023, Australians voted on a proposal to alter the Constitution establish an advisory body to the federal Parliament dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests.

The proposal failed with only 39.9 percent of voters across the country supporting it.

None of the six Australian states voted in favour, with the Australian Capital Territory being the biggest supporter.

In an email message, Dutton and Price called for financial support of the Liberal Party, emphasising the importance of preventing a Labor-Greens coalition.

“It’s becoming clear that a re-elected Labor government would be a Labor-Greens activist minority government,” they said.

“If that happens, the type of chaos, risk, uncertainty and division our country avoided with The Voice would become very real.”

Dutton also reminded Australians of the referendum’s cost.

“Anthony Albanese wasted 18 months and $450 million of taxpayer money talking down to Australians and dividing our country,” he said.

Labor Responds to Anniversary

Murray Watt, minister for employment, defended the government’s stance, stating that the referendum had substantial support until the opposition ran a campaign against it.

He told ABC Radio, “One of the lessons we took is that it’s really pretty much impossible to undertake constitutional reform in this country without bipartisan support.”

“We see a lot of criticism of the government and the prime minister lately about not taking enough hard decisions and not being bold enough.

“This was a pretty bold thing to do, and it demonstrated the conviction of the prime minister and the conviction of the government that we were prepared to take on a difficult issue and see it through to the end.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, following the referendum’s failure, reflected on Australia’s historical reluctance for constitutional change, noting only eight out of 44 referendums had succeeded.

“What I could promise was that we would go all in, that we would try. And we have,” he said at the time.

Albanese said the government fulfilled its promise to Indigenous Australians by bringing the issue to a national vote.

“We argued for this change not out of convenience but from conviction because that’s what people deserve from their government.”