ACT opposition members who will vote in favour of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament have refused to support a call for all members of the Legislative Assembly to support the establishment of the Voice.
Labor and Greens backbenchers brought forward a motion on Tuesday afternoon calling for the support from all members.
The motion also called on members of the Assembly to condemn misinformation being spread during the campaign.
"Supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Voice strengthens our commitment to exploring new pathways to create better outcomes for all Australians and guides us towards significant progress towards closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians," the motion said.
But while the Canberra Liberals have allowed members to have a conscience vote on the Voice all members of the party voted against the motion.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, who will vote "yes", said the referendum was deeply personal for some and she felt this would be a "disservice" to the "integrity of the referendum".
We will not be supporting this motion, because it is abundantly clear that there is a range of views on this important issue in our community, across the political spectrum," she said.
Canberra Liberals' Mark Parton, who will also vote "yes", became emotional in his speech as he spoke about his journey on discovering more about his Indigenous ancestry.
Mr Parton, who has Noongar ancestry, said he did not believe it was up for elected members to tell people how to vote.
"It's always been my personal view, is not really for elected members to tell anyone how to vote in a referendum," he said.
"This motion was drawn up in the knowledge that not every member of this Assembly is voting 'yes'."
Shadow Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Elizabeth Kikkert was the only other opposition member to speak, she used her speech to point out Indigenous disadvantage in Canberra but did not explicitly say which way she was voting.
Deputy Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson has been actively campaigning against the Voice but did not speak to the motion.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said Mr Hanson had been promoting a link on social media to urge people to sign up to campaign against the Voice to Parliament. She said this sign-up sheet had Canberra Liberals branding.
"It's unfortunate that Mr Hanson is actively using the Canberra Liberals platform to encourage a no campaign," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"This is another example ... of Ms Lee and Mr Hanson being completely split, split on policies, split on values split on this campaign, and it is really, really unfortunate."
