When Malcolm Turnbull was the prime minister, he lambasted the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, saying it went against ‘all Australian citizens having equal civic rights’.
Six years later, with a referendum on the issue set for October 14, he’s one of the Voice’s biggest backers, campaigning for it with Labor’s Tanya Plibersek and Allegra Spender, the Teal MP who holds his old eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth.
‘A constitutionally enshrined additional representative assembly for which only Indigenous Australians could vote for or serve in is inconsistent with this fundamental principle (of equal rights),’ Mr Turnbull said on October 26, 2017.
On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull appeared to change his tune when he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that he would ‘be voting Yes in the referendum’.
‘Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is long overdue and has been a bipartisan policy objective for many years. It’s time to get this done,’ he wrote.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull takes a selfie with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Wentworth MP Allegra Spender and his wife, Lucy Turnbull
![Malcolm Turnbull (pictured left) hand his wife Lucy Turnbull (right) hand out Yes campaign material for the Voice in Kings Cross, Sydney, Wednesday, August 30, 2023](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/30/06/74860057-12459855-image-a-43_1693374299089.jpg)
Malcolm Turnbull (pictured left) hand his wife Lucy Turnbull (right) hand out Yes campaign material for the Voice in Kings Cross, Sydney, Wednesday, August 30, 2023
When he was prime minister, Mr Turnbull also thought the Voice did not have ‘any realistic prospect of being supported by a majority of Australians’.
Now, having long left politics after being replaced in an internal Liberal Party coup by Scott Morrison in August 2018, Mr Turnbull said ‘while the Voice amendment is not entirely consistent with my egalitarian, republican values, nonetheless we are better off supporting it’.
He said in the intervening years, the arguments for a Voice have become ‘obvious’ to him, that governments and parliaments should consult with and be advised by Indigenous Australians on decisions that affect them.
When he was prime minister and had to appease the conservative wing of the Liberal Party, Mr Turnbull said a Voice to Parliament would ‘undermine the universal principles of unity, equality and “one person one vote”‘.
He no longer cares what the right wing of his party thinks of him, as they were the ones who replaced him with Scott Morrison five years ago.
Those same people seemed to be the ones he had in mind on Wednesday when he wrote that ‘the scares and diversions whipped up over the Voice have been utterly predictable.’
He said if the Voice is passed there are suggestions it could offer advice on defence, and conceded that may well be the case.
‘But why would the views of Indigenous Australians on AUKUS carry more weight than anyone else’s,’ he said.
Mr Turnbull said another scare campaign is building up over calls for a treaty with Indigenous Australians.
He said though the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for a treaty, ‘this is not what Australians are being asked to vote on at the referendum’.
![Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is pictured handing out Yes campaign material for the Voice at Kings Cross Station in Sydney, Wednesday, August 30](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/30/06/74860059-12459855-Former_prime_minister_Malcolm_Turnbull_is_pictured_handing_out_Y-a-5_1693375085564.jpg)
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is pictured handing out Yes campaign material for the Voice at Kings Cross Station in Sydney, Wednesday, August 30
![Wentworth MP Allegra Spender (pictured) campaigned for the Voice in Sydney on Wednesday with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is also a former member for Wentworth](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/30/07/74860053-12459855-Wentworth_MP_Allegra_Spender_pictured_campaigned_for_the_Voice_i-a-4_1693376274824.jpg)
Wentworth MP Allegra Spender (pictured) campaigned for the Voice in Sydney on Wednesday with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is also a former member for Wentworth
The former prime minister made it clear that a Voice will not deliver a treaty, though it may make it more achievable in the long run, especially as treaties are already being negotiated at state and territory levels.
Having led the Yes side in Australia’s last referendum – the failed 1999 campaign to become a republic – Mr Turnbull has some advice to share over that experience.
‘Do not allow perfect to be the enemy of the good,’ he said. The Voice delivers recognition and respect to Indigenous Australians in the manner they have sought.
‘On October 14, together we can bend the arc of history a little further towards justice by voting YES.’
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