Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee doesn’t think federal opposition to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will have negative consequences for her party at the next ACT election.

Ms Lee indicated her support for the Voice while on maternity leave in June — joining with the ‘Liberals for Yes’ campaign, headed by former Liberal ACT chief minister and small business ombudsman Kate Carnell.

But support in the local branch of the Canberra Liberals is far from unanimous.

While acting as opposition leader in Ms Lee’s absence, Jeremy Hanson was the first ACT MLA to declare his intention to vote No.

And at a federal level, the Liberal Party is formally opposed to the government’s model for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament — instead, pushing for legislated bodies.

Ms Lee didn’t support a motion brought on in the Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister Andrew Barr in February, reaffirming his government’s support for enshrining a Voice to Parliament in the constitution.

Instead, Ms Lee sought to amend the motion to note there was “a diverse range of views”.

Mr Barr labelled the opposition’s stance as “gutless”.

Ms Lee said she hadn’t formed her own position on the Voice at the time.

“I had made it very clear that I was absolutely open minded about it and I was doing my own due diligence to engage with interested parties — especially the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander part of the community — and certainly I have given it a great deal of thought,” Ms Lee said.

“It is listening to the community that we’re going to make laws about — I don’t think that’s too much to ask. In the long-term it is about genuinely closing the gap.

“We know that there are really bad outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and all of the efforts — despite the best intentions to date — have not worked.”

Ms Lee said the she believes it is a step in the right direction to ensure everything that can be done to “close that gap in a genuine and meaningful way” is done.

“What stuck out to me is that it is a meaningful but constitutionally simple amendment,” she said.

“Number one, a recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as our first nations — first Australians.

“When you think about it from that perspective, I think that it is something that I can get behind.”

But Ms Lee likely won’t go as far as handing out flyers or calling constituents solely in support of the Yes campaign.

“I will of course lend my support to the ‘Libs for Yes’ campaign, if they ask me to get involved in certain ways, I will certainly give it good consideration.”

“Understandably, and probably as no surprise to anybody, my focus will firmly be on the local issues that matter to Canberrans as we build up our momentum to the October 2024 election.”

MLAs say bipartisan support crucial

Government MLAs, including Indigenous Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, have been actively campaigning in support of the Yes campaign.

They see bipartisan support as crucial.

“We’ve seen in the past when voices are legislated, they can be abolished with the stroke of the pen,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“If it’s embedded in the constitution — as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have asked for — we will all be obliged to ensure it’s the best Voice that it can be.

“We have an opportunity, once the date is declared to run a genuine campaign — in the same way that you would with an election — and that’s an opportunity for Liberals for Yes to get out and have those conversations as well.

“For them to go and knock on doors, for them to make calls, for them to stand on street corners and provide accurate information for people and to counter the fear and the misinformation that is coming from the No campaign.”

Ms Lee says she won’t push members of her own party to declare a position or campaign.

“It’s not up to me to dictate to other politicians that they should be public with their vote,” Ms Lee said.

“It’s important to know that — especially at a sub-national level, in terms of parliamentarians — they’re not carrying the vote of their constituents on this issue.

“This is a referendum, once again, it’s about Australians — every single Australian getting to have a say.”

‘Do everything we can to get a Yes vote up’

With Canberrans strongly voting in the affirmative in the 1999 republic referendum and in support of same sex marriage in the 2017 postal survey, Mr Barr has said he expects the majority of ACT residents will vote Yes.

But Ms Lee doesn’t think a national No result would see ACT voters take her party to task at the ballot box in next year’s territory election as a result of the federal opposition’s stance.

“I think that Canberrans know how to differentiate between federal issues and local issues,” she said.

“But of course we’ve always had great support from our federal colleagues and we have a professional, mature relationship where the issues that affect us — at the local level — they know that we have certainly done our due diligence in making sure we stand up for our community and that’s always going to be my focus — to stand up for Canberrans.”

Ms Lee said the variety of opinions within the Canberra Liberals on the Voice reflected the diversity of community opinion.

“I think most Canberrans have noticed that, number one, Mr Hanson was acting leader at the time that I was on maternity leave and I was in a privileged position that he stepped up so that I could spend time with my newborn daughter,” she said.

“And I think number two, most Canberrans realise that we have a free vote and the diversity of views in our party room actually reflect the diversity of views across the community on this issue.

“It’s almost impossible to say what will happen, obviously in terms of the referendum result, number one, and what will happen as a result or the consequences of it.

“But what I am thoroughly concerned is about making sure we do everything we can to get a Yes vote up because I firmly believe this is the right step.”