The ACT's Deputy Opposition Leader has said a Voice to Parliament would institutionalise racial division in the constitution, the most senior Canberra Liberal to take a stand.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jeremy Hanson said the proposed change would be significant and he believed no group of "unelected Australians should ever wield such legal and political power".
"My suspicion is that the Voice is being presented as some utopian panacea, to solve the great disadvantage faced by Indigenous Australians, but will not actually progress closing the gap," Mr Hanson wrote in an opinion piece for City News published on Monday.
Mr Hanson, a former party Indigenous affairs spokesman, said he believed the Voice would "diminish the power" of Indigenous members of federal parliament.
"The solutions to the undeniable disadvantage faced by some, but certainly not all, Indigenous Australians are in my view not to be found by creating race-based constitutional division," he wrote.
MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee in March said Canberra Liberals would not take a position on the Voice and instead allow its elected members to have a free vote.
Ms Lee, who is now on maternity leave, did not offer her own position on the referendum.
Former Liberal NSW premier Dominic Perrottet and Liberal Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff both indicated support for the Voice.
Julian Leeser, the federal opposition spokesman on Indigenous Australians, quit the federal Liberal front bench last week after his party decided to oppose the Voice.
If the Voice referendum succeeds, the make-up of the body would be determined by Parliament and could be amended by future governments.
The Voice would have no veto power on decisions of parliament.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.