How the PM’s first move proved the ‘no’ case on the Voice

Fair Australia spokeswoman Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price nailed it: “The Labor government has just proven the No case before the campaign has even started.”

Despite begging his referendum committee to drop its demand for the Voice to have a say over parliament AND executive government …

Despite pleading with them to agree to limit the ability of the Voice to challenge a democratically elected government in the High Court …

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave in.

“At the very first opportunity to show that the so-called Voice will not ride roughshod over the government, they folded,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.

“Despite the internal division, despite the legal concerns, despite the community concerns, they capitulated.

“The activists are running the table, and if the rulebook of the country is changed we can expect only more of this.”

Even supporters of the Voice turned against it.

Constitutional law expert Greg Craven, who was backer of the Voice and a member of the government’s own Constitutional Expert Group, said the amendment unveiled by the Prime Minister was “far worse” than he feared.

He’s not alone.

Constitutional lawyer Frank Brennan and former High Court justice Ian Callinan both agreed with Professor Craven: giving the Voice power over “executive government” could lead to “government decisions being caught in a quagmire of High Court legal challenges”.

Senator Nampijinpa Price said this would make the Voice more powerful than a Cabinet Minister.

“If [the Voice] does not agree with what the executive has to say or what they want to legislate, there is no guarantee that they will not take this to the High Court to challenge,” she said.

“Not even a cabinet minister has the right to make a challenge in the High Court about decisions that they don’t agree with.

“This will then put strain on the rest of the nation for decisions being made for all Australians.”

As Senator Nampijinpa Price said on Thursday: the Prime Minister’s announcement is the strongest reason to vote no we have seen so far.