Indigenous leaders are pushing back on the federal government’s plan to legislate a voice to Parliament, instead of setting a referendum.

From The Heart campaign director Dean Parkin told Joe Hildebrand any voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders that doesn’t require a constitutional amendment is destined to have a short shelf life.

“Even in my lifetime there’s been a number of different voices, and on average they last less than 10 years.”

He agreed with Joe that “political elites” have hijacked the issue, calling on them to stop maintaining the status quo and listen to the experts: the Indigenous Australians who wrote the Uluru Statement.

“The people in the Canberra bubble are the ones consistently ignoring those voices and making up their own minds about what should be done.

“The Australian people giving their will … through a referendum is a generational opportunity.”

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