The proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

A quick summary

Simple but no vision...

The Government's Bill is so simple that it says nothing.

It doesn't tell us what the Government's vision for the Voice is. The Voice could be anything - and anything could be the Voice. It's a formless Constitutional blob.

The Bill doesn't even say that the Voice has to represent, or speak for, Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders - just about them. 

The Voice is too limited ...

Under the Bill, the Voice is limited to speaking to the Parliament and the Commonwealth Executive Government. Despite what the Explanatory Memorandum says, ordinary Commonwealth legislation won't be able to amend the Voice's powers, or give it new powers. It's frozen in stone.

We can do better than that.

• The Uluru Statement was addressed to the people of Australia. So, the Voice should speak to the people of Australia

• and to the Commonwealth Parliament and the Commonwealth Executive Government

• and to the Parliaments and legislatures of the States and Territories, who play such a significant role for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

And it should be possible to give the Voice other functions - including functions of supervising and delivering services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

The Voice is controlled by the Government ...

The Bill gives the Parliament (read: the Government) total control over the Voice. And we don't yet know what the Government has in mind ....

But the Voice is for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. It’s their Voice, speaking authoritatively for them. It should be what they want it to be and say what they want it to say.

There is something fundamentally intrusive and paternalistic about the Parliament designing, or "approving", the voice that speaks to it for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders should design, manage, supervise and take responsibility for the National Voice.

How else could it truly be their Voice?

Here's what to do...

Establishing the Voice Constitutionally, with enough detail so that the electorate knows what the vison of the Voice is that they're voting on, but still ensuring that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders effectively design it, is tricky.

But doable.

The Constitution Alteration should set out the fundamental structure of the National Voice, and the initial members (all Aboriginals or Torres Strait Islanders) should be elected on a universal suffrage basis, by Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, to ensure that it truly represents Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. This involves compulsory voting, secret ballots and the other familiar electoral mechanics that give confidence that the outcome is truly representative.

The Voice, when it meets, should then have the power—and the responsibility— to adjust the details of the Voice (electorate structure, voting arrangements etc) as occasion requires, all within the context of fundamental universal suffrage principle, and to make rules to give effect to these decisions. There should be no further parliamentary involvement.

This preserves the essentials, allows for the flexibility the Voice proponents say is necessary, gets the Voice up and running as soon as practicable but ensures that Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are in full control.

Then it will truly be their Voice.

It means 2 pieces of legislation, in a package: the Constitution Alteration, focussing on the Voice as a truly representative body for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, and a Commonwealth Act to give the Voice power to change its own make up. Both would be passed by the Parliament at the same time, but the Commonwealth Act would come into effect when and if the referendum succeeds.