Several Liberal MPs have thrown their support behind Julian Leeser’s decision to quit the shadow frontbench to campaign for the Indigenous voice, with at least one now claiming the move could help clear the way for the referendum’s success.
While the shock resignation is unlikely to alter the opposition’s plan to campaign against the voice, Leeser is the latest in a growing list of Liberals opposing the federal party room’s decision.
Leeser resigned in order to campaign for a yes vote, but said he would continue pushing for the government to change its proposed wording, again putting forward the model he outlined at the National Press Club last week.
“I’m a supporter of the voice. I think it’s right that it has a place in the constitution,” Leeser said.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, were among those praising Leeser’s decision on Tuesday. Albanese repeated his belief that the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had underestimated the number of Coalition supporters who would back the voice.
When asked at his press conference whether criticisms in question time had affected him, Leeser replied: “absolutely not”.
Ken Wyatt, the former Coalition minister for Indigenous Australians, told the ABC’s 7.30 that Dutton’s claims about the consultation body being a “Canberra voice” were “far from the truth”. Wyatt, who quit the Liberals last week over its opposition to the voice, claimed his former colleagues had “a stubborn position of not wanting to give Aboriginal people a seat at the table”, and backed the ability of the voice to make representations to executive government.
Wyatt also said he didn’t believe there would be any compromise on the constitutional alteration that would have attracted the support of the Liberal partyroom.
Burney said that Leeser had “shown strength today in putting his principles ahead of politics” and noted “a growing chorus of Liberals” in favour of a yes vote in the referendum – including the Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, MP Bridget Archer and former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt, who resigned from the Liberal party in protest against its stance.
Archer, who last week strongly opposed the party’s position and said she would campaign for a yes vote, tweeted that she had “much respect” for Leeser’s decision, praising his “courage and integrity”.
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, another voice supporter, said in a statement that “the referendum is too important to play politics and it is not good enough to oppose on process grounds” – referencing a major criticism of Dutton’s.
“I want the referendum to be successful and believe a yes vote is now more likely because of Julian’s conviction,” he said.
Leeser noted his founding of the Uphold and Recognise group, aimed at garnering conservative support for an Indigenous voice.
The current chair of Uphold and Recognise, Sean Gordon, worked with Leeser since the beginning of the push for constitutional recognition more than a decade ago. He welcomed Leeser’s move but said it indicated that he may have a harder time trying to sway the Liberal party room, given he’s no longer in shadow cabinet.
“I know that Julian is genuinely committed to Indigenous recognition … With the decision from the Liberals last week, it wasn’t allowing him to maintain his integrity and lead with conviction,” Gordon said.
Gordon, a Wangkumarra and Barkindji man, resigned from the Liberal party in 2017 after then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull dismissed the idea of a voice to parliament.
Gordon said in recent conversations with Leeser, he urged him to make his position clear: “I really just asked [him] to look within himself. The only thing he takes in and out of that house in Canberra is his integrity.
“He’s a strong voice in that room and he’s obviously come to a decision that his voice wasn’t able to influence the party room or the shadow cabinet,” he said.
Gordon claimed the Liberal party was splintering over the referendum. Despite Leeser and Dutton claiming the federal opposition was overwhelmingly behind the party position, the resignation adds to a growing number of federal Liberals publicly opposing their colleagues’ decisions, while many state government colleagues are either backing the referendum or not yet following Dutton’s lead.
“The risk I see right now is that Dutton will risk his conservative values by trying to fight a referendum on this issue, on Indigenous people and I think that’s bad for the country, bad for the opposition leader and bad for the Liberal party,” he said.
The director of the Yes Campaign Alliance and member of the referendum working group, Dean Parkin, praised Leeser’s decision as “admirable and principled”.
“At a time when many people are disillusioned with business-as-usual politics, Mr Leeser’s decision shows support for a yes vote transcends party political lines and reflects a desire by many Australians to be part of a successful yes vote,” Parkin said.
Wiradjuri man Roy Ah-See, a spokesperson for the Uluru dialogue, said the referendum should be “above the tribalism of retail Australian politics.”
