Key Points
- Peter Dutton said Australians would head to the voting booths again if the Yes vote does not prevail.
- Dutton told Sky News he would be prepared to hold another referendum on the matter if elected.
- Uluru Statement architect Megan Davis said the proposal wouldn't "change the daily lives of First Nations peoples".
Peter Dutton's promise to hold another referendum to recognise First Nations people in the Constitution if the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum fails has been met with criticism by Yes backers.
The Opposition leader said on Sunday that Australians would head to the voting booths again under his leadership if the Yes vote does not prevail.
The Opposition is against enshrining a Voice to Parliament, which would provide advice on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but supports constitutional recognition.
Dutton told Sky News he would be prepared to hold another referendum on the matter if elected.
"Yes, I believe very strongly that is the right thing to do," he said on Sunday.
"But enshrining a Voice in the constitution is divisive."
He said it would "divide the country down the middle" and fail to provide practical outcomes.
Yes campaigner Megan Davis said there was "zero evidence" that a statement of recognition in the Constitution alone - as Dutton proposed - would have a meaningful impact.
Davis, an architect of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which called for a Voice to Parliament when it was published in 2017, said First Nations peoples and Australians would not accept a form of recognition that didn't change people's lives.
"There's a unity ticket among Australians on this point: there is no use going to a referendum if it's not going to change the daily lives of First Nations peoples," Davis said on Sunday.
Kirstie Parker, a strategic adviser with the Uluru Dialogue - the organisation dedicated to advancing the Uluru Statement - said Dutton's comments showed he wasn't listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
"Some people have said the referendum is an expensive exercise and yet here we have an opposition proposing to spend the same amount of money on something that would not change lives," Parker said.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud backed his Liberal counterpart on Sunday, saying if the referendum was solely about constitutional recognition "it would've passed with flying colours".
"If it does go down on October 14, I'm pledging my leadership to restart a process to make sure we do get to constitutional recognition," he told Nine's Weekend Today program.
Debate on the Voice to Parliament has kicked up a gear .
On Saturday, Anthony Albanese took aim at "fear campaigns" about the Voice.
"This campaign is going to be won by one-on-one conversations with people, making sure that the fear campaigns which are there (are) no more real than the fear campaigns that were there about the Apology to Stolen Generations, about Mabo, about native title, about marriage equality, about all of these issues," he told supporters in Canberra.
The Uluru Dialogue has launched the film, which pairs the famous song with transformative moments in Australian history.
The referendum's success depends on majority support across the country and in four of six Australian states.
The question to be put in the referendum is: "A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?"
If the referendum vote is successful, the government will then design the specific form of the voice, which will be implemented via legislation passed by and debated in parliament.
Stay informed on the 2023 Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum from across the SBS Network, including First Nations perspectives through NITV.
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