Sussan Ley decries Voice to Parliament as prime minister’s ‘re-election vanity project’

In some of the most critical remarks yet from the opposition, Liberal deputy Sussan Ley has decried the Voice to Parliament as a “re-election vanity project” by the prime minister.

Anthony Albanese continues to push for the Liberal Party to sign on to supporting the Voice to Parliament in a referendum, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has withheld possible support over what he has called a “lack of detail”.

This morning, during a speech to fellow Liberals in Western Australia, Ms Ley went a step further, accusing Mr Albanese of using the Voice as a political wedge.

“As the months have rolled on, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that Anthony Albanese would rather see the Liberal Party say ‘No’ and this referendum fail, than the Liberal Party say ‘Yes’ and this referendum succeed,” Ms Ley said.

“Sadly, I suspect he is using this referendum as a platform for an early election.”

The government has made concessions to the Liberal Party as it seeks their support, including a reversal of a plan to drop the referendum tradition of mailing out a pamphlet detailing both the yes and no cases for the referendum.

However, the government is yet to endorse a specific model for the how the Voice should work — one of Mr Dutton’s requests — saying that should be determined by parliament after the vote.

Mr Albanese said people could make their own judgement as to whether the Coalition was being constructive.

“I’ve sat down with Peter Dutton on no less than six occasions, and what I’ve done repeatedly is not be prescriptive about what we’re putting forward,” Mr Albanese said.

“I put forward a draft in good faith at the Garma Festival in July last year; since then I haven’t seen any suggested wording from Sussan Ley or anyone else in the Coalition.”

Anthony Albanese says Liberal Party questions over detail are designed to create confusion.(ABC News: Adam Kennedy)

Mr Albanese said the Liberals’ questions over details were designed to sow division on the Voice.

“I see, in Question Time every day, they have an opportunity to ask questions about detail. That doesn’t happen,” he said.

“What you have is a series of comments aimed at creating confusion and making more complex something that is very, very clear: Do we recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution, and do we consult them on matters that affect them?”

The government is due to introduce the bill that would enable to referendum to be held when it sits next month.

A vote on whether to enshrine the Voice to Parliament in the constitution would be held towards the end of this year.