WA Liberal leader walks back Voice support
Western Australian Liberal leader Libby Mettam has backflipped on an earlier pledge to support the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The admission came the day after the Cook government scrapped its unrelated Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act and is another blow to the Yes campaign in Western Australia, where support for the constitutional change has been sliding below the required 50 per cent since March.
WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam.Credit: Trevor Collens
In April Mettam defied her federal party leader Peter Dutton’s position by declaring she would vote yes at the upcoming referendum but told media on Wednesday her “support was waning.”
“I’m unclear about what my position is now,” she said.
Mettam said she still supported constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians and the intent of the Voice but said the Yes campaign and Albanese government had not prosecuted the benefits of it to Indigenous people clearly enough in WA.
“Quite honestly, I have growing concerns about the Voice debate about the Prime Minister’s explanation and the information that has been provided about the Voice,” she said.
“I am becoming increasingly concerned about the information that’s been provided by the federal government in response to genuine concerns raised in the broader community.”
Mettam said she was saddened to see how politicised the debate around the Voice had become.
“I was disappointed that from the get-go it has become a political issue but I think I share a concern among many Western Australians who would like to see Indigenous recognition in the Constitution but are confused about what a voice would represent and are wanting some clear answers from the Yes campaign and also by our Prime Minister,” she said.
Dutton is one of the most strident opponents of the Voice but Mettam denied that she was changing her position because of internal pressure from her own party.
“I wouldn’t say that at all. I came out on day one, at the time that our federal leader had stated his position,” she said.
“My message [to the Yes campaign] is don’t lose this opportunity to get this right.”
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