One of Australia’s top legal minds will take to the national stage in an attempt to quash fears about an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Former High Court chief justice Robert French will address the National Press Club with just eight days until Australians hit the ballot box.
Mr French has repeatedly dismissed fears a voice could be subject to considerable legal challenge, declaring it “constitutionally sound”.
He’s previously labelled legal arguments around the voice as “a shadow which distracts from the substantive”, stating that in future the High Court would likely consider what the intent of the parliament was when making rulings.
Another key assertion of Mr French is to brush off the idea constitutional recognition divides Australians on the basis of race.
“Put shortly, the Voice provision provides for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples not as a race but as the First Peoples of Australia … which goes back up to 65,000 years before the enactment of our Constitution,” he told parliament earlier this year.
“That provides a significant shift away from the existing race-based legislative power that the Commonwealth has.”
Elsewhere, the Central Land Council is pushing for a ‘yes’ vote and says the voice could turn around their “remote education train wreck”.
“We need federal action to prevent a total collapse of the NT’s remote government education system which is starved of funds and unable to support the needs of all children,” CLC chief executive Les Turner said in a statement.
“We appeal to all Australians to vote ‘yes’ so governments can be held accountable for education spending and meet the needs of all our children into the future.”