Research

5 Things You Need To Know About The Voice

Written by:
16 August 2023
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  1. The Voice would divide Australians by race

Enshrining a collective identity based on race in the Constitution would be to forever divide Australians from their fellow citizens, while asserting that one defined group is legally and politically more important than the other.

Source: Morgan Begg, One Voice: Racial Equality in the Australian Constitution (Institute of Public Affairs, 2023) pages 13-21.

  1. The Voice would permanently change the Constitution

The Voice would permanently change the Constitution, which is the rule-book of our democracy. Unlike a normal law, this could not simply be repealed, no matter how bad the results.

Source: John Storey and Mia Schlicht, Permanent and More Powerful: How the Canberra Voice compares to the South Australian Voice to Parliament (Institute of Public Affairs, August 2023) pages 1-5.

  1. The Voice would undermine civic equality

Separate legal rights and special political representation divides Australians into first and second-class citizens.

Source: Morgan Begg, One Voice: Racial Equality in the Australian Constitution (Institute of Public Affairs, 2023) pages 13-21.

Migrants who came to Australia on the promise of equal citizenship would become second-class citizens.

Source: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, ‘Telling the truth’ in Essays for Australia (Institute of Public Affairs, 2023).

The Voice to Parliament would have unrivalled and unprecedented power to lobby governments and parliaments on all matters.

Source: One Voice: Racial Equality in the Australian Constitution (Institute of Public Affairs, 2023) pages 22-29.

  1. The Voice would undermine your say in our future

Once part of the Constitution, the Voice to Parliament would have practically unlimited scope to intervene in every major decision of government, from international trade deals, to the setting of interest rates, to taxation.

Source: John Storey, Institute of Public Affairs Research Note Regarding the Legal Risks of the Voice (July 2023); John Storey, The New Zealand Māori Voice to Parliament and what we can expect for Australia (Institute of Public Affairs, February 2023) pages 7-9.

  1. The Voice is risky and would mean decades of legal challenges

As a completely new and unfamiliar body with its own Chapter in the Constitution, the powers of the Voice to parliament would inevitably be tested in our High Court, meaning legal challenges and, at the very least, delays, costs to taxpayers, and uncertainty.

Source: Morgan Begg and John Storey, Voice to Parliament: Research Report Provided to the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum (Institute of Public Affairs, April 2023) pages 16-25.

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