Federal election 2025: Coalition call ‘honesty’ on Voice after another Labor frontbencher hints at comeback

The Coalition have called for Anthony Albanese to “be honest” about Labor’s intentions to bring back a rejected Voice to Parliament by stealth if re-elected.

The debate around the voice has continued with Labor frontbencher Anika Wells saying while the Voice in the “form” it had taken to referendum was gone, the party was “always looking” for ways to address Indigenous affairs.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said Ms Wells was “obviously lending her support to Penny Wong’s position”.

“That is that the Voice in some form, presumably through legislation, is going to be a part of the Albanese government’s next term in power if they’re successful,” he said.

“On Saturday, I just ask Australians to think about that for a second. You sent a very clear message to the Prime Minister that you said no to the Voice, and now the Prime Minister is saying back to you ‘well, we’ve got this secret plan’.

“The government should be upfront and honest, and the Prime Minister should be honest with the Australian people on the Voice.”

The debate was sparked after Foreign Minister Ms Wong hinted there may be hope for a successful Voice in the future while speaking on The Betoota Advocate’s podcast earlier this week.

“I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years time, and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality, don’t you reckon?” Senator Wong said.

On Thursday, Ms Wells said: “The Voice in the form we took to the referendum is gone”.

“We respect the opinions and the votes of people, they made that very clear. But we’re always looking for ways to help First Nations people and for that policy to be tangible and credible.”

Mr Albanese insisted, when asked about treaty and truth-telling, he was focused on practical reconciliation and has also said he respected the referendum’s outcome while Ms Wong backtracked on her statements.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Thursday the comments from Ms Wong were “a kick in the guts” and showed “utter disrespect” towards Australians who voted against the referendum.

“They don’t respect the outcome. They don’t respect the will of the Australian people, because deep down, as Penny said it’s inevitable, she still believes in it,” Senator Price said.