Caleb Bond:
Joining me now to discuss this is Institute of Public Affairs Research Fellow Saxon Davidson. Saxon, good to see you, as always. I think I had you on last week as well. Good to see you again. I mean, this is just ridiculous. What the hell does the ACT think they’re doing? If they’re trying to do Alba a favour, I mean, I think he’d be giving them a kick in the head.
Saxon Davidson:
Well, I think it’s more than that. As you said, the ACTU has significant influence over the Labour Party. And we should all never forget that the Labour Party’s entire rewriting of our industrial relation laws in their last term of government was essentially drafted by the ACTU but was not campaigned on. And if I was a betting man, I would say that they would try to bring back the Voice to Parliament by stealth in order to appease the ACTU in this instance as well.
And it doesn’t matter, I think, to the Albanese government, whether Australians rejected the voice or not, considering that they don’t need the people’s opinion or the people’s approval to bring in policies, as we’ve seen with this most recent budget and as we’ve seen with their uncontrolled migration programme. I think mainstream Australians have every right to be very concerned about what the ACTU have said.
Caleb Bond:
I mean, I guess it would come down to how many broken promises are they willing to deliver? Because of course the prime minister said, “People vote no, we’re not going to lead you slight voice.” If he were to cave into the ACTU, he’d be walking back on that one as well. I mean, it comes to a point where people start to say, “I don’t like the look of this.”
Saxon Davidson:
Well, I think we will get to that point eventually, but as you said, broken promises is nothing new to this Albanese government. And we’ve already seen in many states across the country that there’s a legislative voice in South Australia. There’s obviously the treaty process in Victoria. And there are other whole range of other laws relating to this, whether it be cultural heritage laws or otherwise.
I’m very concerned about the reintroduction of a Voice to Parliament and for this project of the Albanese government to continue because never forget after the Albanese government won election in 2022, the first thing that he said after a welcome to country, of course, was that we will fulfil the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This is an ideological project for this government and I suspect that we will see it in the future.
Caleb Bond:
Well, indeed, and we know where it all leads. And where you are in Melbourne, I’m reading today that the Melbourne City Council is trying to get in on this native title claim over the entirety of Melbourne so they can have their say. Anyway, Saxon Davidson, good to see you again.
This transcript with Saxon Davidson talking on The Bond Report News Australia from 26 June 2026 has been edited for clarity.
