The proposal for a Voice to Parliament was initially conceived in 2014 by Aboriginal advocate
Noel Pearson of the
Cape York Institute (assisted by the Institute's senior constitutional advisor Shireen Morris) in discussion with academic
Anne Twomey and constitutional conservatives
Greg Craven, Damien Freeman and
Julian Leeser. Their discussion arose in response to the 2012 recommendations of the
Gillard Government's Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution, which had been rejected by constitutional conservatives. The proposal was first publicly raised by Pearson in his 2014
Quarterly Essay, "A Rightful Place: Race, Recognition and a More Complete Commonwealth" and was submitted by the Cape York Institute to the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in January 2015. The proposal was made in part to bridge the gap between Indigenous advocates and constitutional conservatives in the
debate around recognition. Indigenous advocates demanded more than just symbolic recognition in any change and had coalesced around a constitutional prohibition against racial discrimination. This reflected the view that, according to Megan Davis, Indigenous people do not seek inclusion in the Constitution to be recognised, that campaign being "a state-conceived project salvaged from the ashes of the failed
1999 referendum and arguably already
achieved in 1967" but instead in order to "ameliorate the unintended (or intended) consequences of the drafting of the 1967 amendment" such as the continuing ability for the government to racially discriminate as seen in the
Northern Territory Intervention and the
Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy. A racial discrimination clause was unacceptable to constitutional conservatives however, who feared that such a clause would be widely interpreted by so called "
activist judges" and unacceptably limit
parliamentary sovereignty. Arguing that conservative support was required for any referendum to succeed, the proposal envisioned a duty for Parliament to consult with Indigenous communities, but with no duty to follow this advice, thereby retaining parliamentary sovereignty. Additionally, it was argued that through the proposal being proactive, Indigenous people would be involved as "participants in Australia's democratic and parliamentary processes, rather than as litigants". While receiving broad academic support, some noted that if the design of the body is wholly left to Parliament, it may not have sufficient political power to negotiate with government and that the body may not be able to provide advice early enough to be effective.
Further developments under the Referendum Council On 7 December 2015 the 16 members of the Referendum Council were appointed by Liberal prime minister
Malcolm Turnbull and the ALP's
Bill Shorten. In October 2016, the Council released the
Discussion Paper on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, which outlined the various proposals to date, including that of an Indigenous voice. The council then engaged in a consultation process with Indigenous Australians, eventually meeting with over 1,200 people. This led to the First Nations National Constitutional Convention on 26 May 2017, whose delegates collectively composed the
Uluru Statement from the Heart. This statement included the request, "We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution." On 13 June 2017, the Referendum Council released their final report, which recommended that a referendum for a constitutional voice be held. It stated that the body would recognise Indigenous Australians as "the first peoples of Australia" and that it should be tasked with "monitoring the use of the heads of power in
section 51(xxvi) and
section 122". In October 2017, the Turnbull government rejected the major recommendations of the report, arguing that the constitutional proposal was neither "desirable or capable of winning acceptance at referendum" and that the body "would inevitably become seen as a third chamber of parliament". Instead, the government established the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in March 2018. It was tasked with reviewing the findings of the
Uluru Statement delegates, Referendum Council, and the two earlier constitutional recommendation bodies. Its final report, published in November 2018, included four recommendations, the first of which was to "initiate a process of co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples". It stated that the delegates at the 2017 Convention "understood that the primary purpose of The Voice was to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices were heard whenever the Commonwealth Parliament exercised its powers to make laws under section 51(xxvi) and section 122 of the Constitution".
Co-design of the Voice , Minister for Indigenous Affairs in the
Morrison government|280x280px On 30 October 2019,
Ken Wyatt,
Minister for Indigenous Australians in the
Morrison government, announced the commencement of a "co-design process" aimed at providing an Indigenous voice to government. A Senior Advisory Group (SAG) was co-chaired by Professor
Tom Calma, chancellor of the
University of Canberra, and
Marcia Langton, associate provost at the
University of Melbourne, and comprising 20 leaders and experts from across the country. The body was described as a "voice to government", rather than a "voice to parliament". Prime Minister
Scott Morrison rejected the proposal in the
Uluru Statement for a voice to parliament to be put into the
Australian Constitution; instead, in his government's model, the voice would be enshrined in legislation. The government also said it would run a referendum during its present term about recognising Indigenous people in the Constitution "should a consensus be reached and should it be likely to succeed".
2021 Senior Advisory Group reports An interim report by the Senior Advisory Group led by Langton and Calma was delivered to the government in November 2020, and officially published on 9 January 2021. It included proposals that the government would be obliged to consult the Voice prior to passing new legislation relating to race,
native title or
racial discrimination, where it would affect Indigenous Australians. However, the Voice would not be able to
veto the enactment of such laws, or force changes to government policies. The Voice would comprise either 16 or 18 members, who would either be elected directly or come from the regional and local voice bodies. On the same day, Wyatt announced a second stage of co-design meetings lasting four months, involving more consultation with Indigenous people. Calma reported in March 2021 that about 25 to 35 regional groups would be created, with a mechanism for individuals to pass ideas up the chain from local to regional. In July 2021 the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process panel released its final report. It proposed a series of Local and Regional voices, able to provide advice to all levels of government, and a National Voice, made up of a smaller number of members, able to provide advice to both Parliament and Government. The members of the National Voice would be chosen by the Local and Regional Voice for each area. The parliament would be "obliged" to consult the national voice on a limited number of matters that overwhelmingly affect Indigenous Australians and "expec[ted]" to consult the National Voice on other matters that "significantly affect" Indigenous Australians. The report did not cover changing the Constitution (as this was outside its terms of reference) and these bodies would be created via legislation rather than through a constitutional amendment. While the government announced that the report would be considered in Parliament as soon as possible, no legislation was passed by the election of May 2022. At the
Garma Festival of Traditional Cultures in July, Albanese spoke in more detail of the government's plans for a Voice to Parliament. He proposed the following three lines to the Constitution as a "starting point" in discussions about the amendment: He also proposed that the actioning referendum ask the question: "Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?" On 23 March 2023, the Australian Government released a proposed question and amendment for consideration by the Australian Parliament, following advice from the
Referendum Working Group. == Structure and powers of the Voice ==