What is a Voice to Parliament? And what they can and can't do if voted in in Australia

So what is the voice, what will it mean and how will it work?

Put simply, the Voice would be an Indigenous advisory body written into the constitution. It would offer advice to the parliament about matters that affect First Nations people.

The voice to parliament is one of the recommendations from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which is the culmination of years of consultation with Indigenous groups from all parts of the country.

The government has proposed adding three sentences to the constitution outlining the creation of a body which would represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

It cannot create laws and its advice is non-binding. It would be "subservient" to legislation. Writing the body into the constitution will protect it from the ebbs and flows of government, but changing the constitution will require a referendum.

If the referendum is successful, the Voice can be established and its model changed without the need for further referendums.

Exactly what the Voice looks like is yet to be decided, but it's understood the body would be made up of elected members from Indigenous groups across the nation.

The government will hold the referendum in the 2023/2024 financial year, with a specific date yet to be decided.

Why is it needed

The Voice offers a chance to make amends for the historical injustices of the past. Australia is one of the few Western nations without constitutional recognition or a treaty for its indigenous population.

Attempts have been made to reduce the Indigenous disadvantage in several areas, including life expectancy, child mortality, educational achievement and employment outcomes - the Close the Gap Strategy.

However, the most recent Close The Gap report released this week shows little progress has been made over the last decade, and four targets are even going backwards. Critics of the strategy's slow progress say policies are designed and implemented without properly consulting the people they're trying to help, often making them ineffective.

The Voice would provide advice to the parliament on policies that could affect First Nations people, along with grassroots insights that could inform national decisions.

What are the Nationals saying

The Nationals have put forward several reasons for not backing the Voice, the first being the lack of detail. However, the party was immediately criticised for making a decision on the proposal before it had seen its details, which will be released in the coming months.

Nationals leader David Littleproud claimed the Voice would not would not empower rural and remote groups, calling it a "Voice for Redfern". But again, Mr Littleproud's claim has been made before the details and the model of the proposal have been decided.

Furthermore, the Uluru statement has the support of all Aboriginal land councils and Aboriginal community-controlled health services, all of which work in regional and remote areas. Most of the hundreds signatures on the statement are of First Nations people who live in and represent regional and remote areas.

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The Nationals have also declared the Voice "won't shift the dial" and do little to Close The Gap. As mentioned early, the Close The Gap report - which was released a day after the Nationals made their position public - shows that what federal governments have been doing isn't working.

When Mr Littleproud was asked what alternatives he could put forward to Close The Gap, the Nationals leader recited several policies from the previous government, which prompted a clarifying question from journalists; "So more of the same?"

Mr Littleproud also labelled the Voice "another layer of bureaucracy". He would rather "empower local communities".

Uluru statement campaigners say the voice was specifically designed to cut through the layers of bureaucracy. Ideas at a local level are often changed and amended as they get passed up the various layers of bureaucracy. The Voice will take those local ideas and insights straight to the highest level.

Cracks are already starting to emerge in the hardline stance. Calare MP Andrew Gee declared himself a "long time supporter" of the referendum in a lengthy social media post, while Nicholls MP Sam Birrell is understood to have reserved his position pending further information on the proposal.

Former party leader and Riverina MP Michael McCormack has previously been supportive of the Voice. Although he backs the party's position, he suggested it could change once more details are released.

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