Subjects: Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
E&OE
DAVID KOCH:
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joins me this morning from Sydney’s Royal Easter Show. Peter Dutton, why? Why are you going to oppose this?
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning, Kochie. Look, if we’re going to change the Constitution, we need to understand what it’s about and the government just can’t explain that. I don’t think it’s going to deliver the practical outcomes that we want for Indigenous people on the ground in places like Alice Springs, and it’s really going to change the system of government as we know it. So, I think we need to be very cautious about that. We’re asking questions, we’ve asked in a respectful way, but I don’t believe that this is in our country’s best interests. I think it divides the country instead of unites it, and we think there’s a better way.
DAVID KOCH:
Aren’t you dividing the country, though? You’re saying we don’t need another voice out of Canberra, which is sort of just a trite political slogan isn’t it? It’s not right. All of this comes from the Uluru Statement. Regional communities are being consulted. They’ll be represented on this advisory group.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Kochie, you know, we’re all great fans of WA. We were up in Leonora and Laverton only recently, we were in East Arnhem Land, we’ve been in Palm Island, we’ve been in Alice Springs, Darwin, and we’ve spoken to a lot of Indigenous leaders. They don’t believe that a sort of, you know, a ‘voice for the elites’, as some of them describe it, is going to deliver the practical outcomes for those kids, and the incidence of domestic violence in places like Alice Springs, it’s not going to deliver those practical outcomes, and I believe that a local and regional voice, which is what we’re talking about or an advisory body, can help those people on the ground. But this is a very significant change to the way that government operates, and the Prime Minister won’t give us the detail.
DAVID KOCH:
But you’ve got members threatening to cross the floor, so you can’t even unite your own Party. The only Liberal Premier in Australia, Jeremy Rockliff, is saying he disagrees with you, he’s going to vote ‘yes’ and campaign for the ‘yes’ vote on it.
PETER DUTTON:
But that’s okay. I mean the Labor Premier in Queensland yesterday said that the Prime Minister should release more detail and I hope he listens to her advice, because I think there are millions of Australians who just want to do the right thing by Indigenous Australians, see a better future for them and for their kids, but the Prime Minister won’t answer any of their questions and if we just end up with another layer of bureaucracy, it’s actually going to be a worse outcome for those Indigenous Australians, particularly living in regional and remote areas.
DAVID KOCH:
Is this a knee-jerk reaction to the right of politics after you copped such a battering at the Aston by-election?
PETER DUTTON:
No mate, no, not at all. I mean, we’ve spent months literally talking with Indigenous leaders. We’ve been out to the homes of women living in town camps and we’ve seen the violence. We’ve been to the schools, we’ve seen the incidents. I mean, we watch the footage of what’s happening in Alice Springs, and it’s so remote from what we live as a life in capital cities, and we want to improve the situation for people in Indigenous communities. But when you change the Constitution, you change it for good. There’s no law that you can pass in the Parliament that can, you know, you can’t out-legislate the Constitution. So, we need to get it right, and I think it’s reasonable that we’re asking questions and I think average Australians are wanting their Prime Minister to give the detail.
DAVID KOCH:
Okay, but is your Party broken? You can’t get unity on this, you got a shellacking in the Aston by-election. What do you need to do to bring it back together? It looks as though it’s falling apart?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Kochie, I mean, to put it into perspective, if you’re in the Labor Party and you disagree with a position and cross the floor you have to resign, in fact, you’re expelled from the Party, right? In our Party, we believe in the individual, and their ability to express their view. There would be 99 per cent of our members in Canberra who support our position. I think two have nominated, who want to support the ‘yes’ campaign. They’re entitled to do that in our system because, as I say, we embrace all views, but the vast majority of people are absolutely clear and adamant in their position. They want a better outcome for Indigenous Australians. We don’t want to disrupt the system of government, the democracy that we’ve got, and if the Prime Minister is proposing a system, it needs to be explained to Australians and so far he’s refused to do that. I think on all of those issues, you know, we’re very much united.
DAVID KOCH:
Peter Dutton, appreciate your time. Thank you.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Kochie. Have a great Easter. Thanks, mate.
[ends]