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Only one Victorian Liberal has declared their support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, despite the party’s MPs being granted a free vote on the issue in this year’s referendum.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto is one of the last Liberal leader holdouts yet to declare his position on the Voice, after his NSW and Western Australia counterparts both revealed how they would vote this week.
Jess Wilson is the only member of the Victorian Liberal party room to publicly declare she will vote Yes in the referendum.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
The Sunday Age contacted all Victorian Liberal MPs who were yet to state their public position, with just one – Kew MP Jess Wilson – confirming she would vote Yes in the referendum, which could be held as soon as eight weeks’ time.
Of the 29 MPs in the state Liberal party room, 19 publicly confirmed they would vote No.
A further seven – Pesutto, Sam Groth, Michael O’Brien, Cindy McLeish, Roma Britnell, David Southwick and Wendy Lovell – are yet to settle on their public position. Two MPs – Matt Bach and James Newbury – did not respond.
The referendum, due to be held between October and December, will ask Australians whether to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto has not revealed his position on the Voice.Credit: Justin McManus
Wilson told The Sunday Age: “I support Indigenous recognition in the Constitution, and I am minded to support a Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the Constitution as well.”
Victoria is one of the states most supportive of the Yes vote, with 52 per cent of those polled backing constitutional change, according to the Resolve Political Monitor survey.
Support for the Voice has fallen below 50 per cent in every state except for Victoria and Tasmania, according to the polling.
Victorian state MPs planning to vote no include frontbenchers Brad Battin, David Davis, Georgie Crozier, David Hodgett, Matthew Guy, Brad Rowswell, Renee Heath, Trung Luu and Nick McGowan.
Despite strong opposition to the Voice within the Victorian party room, The Sunday Age spoke to many Liberal MPs who were supportive of constitutional recognition of Indigenous people.
Davis, one of the Liberals’ most senior figures in Victoria, described the proposal for an Indigenous advisory body as “dangerous”, and claimed it would be able to “intrude into the business of the states”.
“While almost everyone supports symbolic constitutional recognition of Australia’s Indigenous community, Anthony Albanese’s referendum proposal carries very serious risks for Australia and, in particular, for Victoria,” Davis wrote in a response.
On Saturday, NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman revealed he would vote in favour of enshrining a Voice to parliament in the Constitution, which leaves Pesutto as one of just two Liberal leaders yet to declare their stance.
When asked about his position earlier this month, Pesutto said he was yet to form a view because “I have a lot on my plate”.
“My total focus as opposition leader and alternative premier in Victoria is on the immediate concerns of the Victorian people in a state context,” Pesutto said at the time.
“The debate over the Voice is a very important national discussion and I will make my position known closer to the date of the referendum.”
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, the leader of the country’s sole Liberal government, has backed the Voice, as has ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee.
The South Australian Liberals have joined with their federal colleagues in opposing the Voice, and Queensland Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli has said he would vote No but not campaign against the proposal.
WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam has said she would vote No, having previously said she would back the Yes campaign.
In the Northern Territory, Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro hasn’t declared her position.
In May, the Victorian shadow cabinet agreed to give MPs the right to campaign and vote Yes or No, rather than forcing them into a party position. That position put Victoria at odds with the federal frontbenchers who are required to oppose the Voice.
Julian Leeser, the former shadow attorney-general and the federal Coalition’s most senior pro-Voice figure, welcomed Speakman’s decision.
Leeser told The Sunday Age the Yes case was the only side “offering recognition and answers to the pressing challenges we face”.
“NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman today put a strong and considered Liberal case for Yes,” Leeser said.
“His words are a reminder of the compelling reasons for change.”
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