National Party Refuse To Support Indigenous Voice To Parliament

A major blow for the Federal Government's proposed Indigenous Voice to parliament with the National Party confirming it won't be supporting the plan.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud has said that his party believes it won't close the gap.

"We believe in empowering local Indigenous communities, giving them the power at a local level, not creating another layer of bureaucracy here in Canberra."

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When asked why the decision was announced one year our from the referendum, Littleproud said on Tuesday that it was about getting "back to first principles".

"Is it about closing the gap sooner? What’s the best way to do that?" he questioned on ABC Breakfast.

"We believe that this will only add another layer of bureaucracy. That ... it won’t empower local communities and understand the solutions, the challenges, but also the opportunities ... in regional and remote Australia.

"We just can’t have an approach where we send a small cohort to Canberra. We should send Canberra to them. We should empower these local communities with the solutions locally," he said.

Meantime, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus told RN Breakfast on Tuesday, that "it’s very disappointing, to hear one of the major parties in Australia, deciding before really the campaign has even started, that they’re going to oppose this really important measure."

Although the Nationals have decided to oppose the Voice to parliament, Mr Dreyfus said the announcement is not a "death blow to this referendum."

"We’re going to be bringing this to the Australian people, as the prime minister promised on election night too, we’re going to be bringing this referendum to the Australian people to establish a voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution. And we’re going to bring that referendum in the next financial year”.

- Attorney General Mark Dreyfus

The Nationals are the first party to announce they're against the proposed plan with the Liberals yet to confirm their position.

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