The proposal for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament has been driven by a group of indigenous activists motivated by a desire to achieve “payback” for “Australia’s settlement”, Tony Abbott has argued.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Thursday night, the former prime minister said the Voice had evolved out of a reconciliation process that was “originally all about recognition” but was now “all about power”.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott said constitutional recognition used be be about recognition but is now"all about power". Picture: Arsineh Houspian. “It's really payback; punishment for the original sin of Australia's settlement,” Mr Abbott said on the podcast. This was when a process of national consultation, which Mr Abbott envisaged would include all Australians, was “taken over by some senior indigenous leaders” who had a “very fixed view” about what the outcome should be.
“They now insist that it was just 439 words instead of the 25-page statement that was released under Freedom of Information, and the 86 pages that accompany all of that,” Mr Abbott said.
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