Sowing doubt and confusion about an Indigenous voice is Dutton’s game plan

Peter Dutton’s calls for detail on an Indigenous voice to parliament referendum are designed to sow doubt and confusion, to delay and distract. Photograph: Jono Searle/AAP

“The prime minister’s got himself into a very tricky position where he won’t provide the detail and I think millions of Australians expect the detail,” Peter Dutton told Sky News this week.

Dutton was being disingenuous and deliberately so. The Coalition spent nine years in government receiving regular expert reports on how a voice might operate.