Australia news LIVE: Split on Voice referendum remains; Dreyfus wants advice from AFP about Lidia Thorpe anti-trans rally incident – Sydney Morning Herald

There is no reason to release the Solicitor-General’s advice on the Voice to parliament wording, but it does support the final wording, the minister for Indigenous Australians says.

Speaking on RN Breakfast this morning, Linda Burney was asked about releasing the advice on the wording.

“Releasing the Solicitor-General’s advice is not consistent with long-standing precedent and practice,” she said.

The decision to release the advice would be up to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the minister said.

“I do think this is just an excuse, and a bit of a mischievousness…from the opposition on demanding this advice. They need to take stock, they need to understand that is about everyone,” Burney said.

But she said the final wording on the Voice referendum and amendments was consistent with the Solicitor-General’s advice.

“Yes it does,” she said.

She said the process was rigorous, and there was an expert legal team involved in helping craft the wording on the Voice.

“We are so confident…that what we’ve emerged with, it’s not been something that’s come out overnight, is going to be very sound, and I have absolute confidence in the advice we’ve received.”

Staying with the Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has been probed about how the Voice to parliament would function, if a minister sought advice.

ABC RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas, asked how the minister and the Voice would interact on a proposal for alcohol management in a place such as Alice Springs.

This was Burney’s response:

I would seek the advice of the Voice on the best way to deal with the issues, to do with alcohol management, obviously, that is the role of the Voice is to provide advice on the best way to do it.

Of course, you would talk to people in Alice Springs, but in terms of the Voice, it will be there to provide advice and that’s what it’s been all along to whoever the Minister is for Aboriginal Affairs and other ministers across the government and the parliament on issues that affect….”

She was asked whether that would involve convening a group, or writing to them specifically and asking for their advice.

“There will be a six-week process of discussion, consultation submissions in relation to the functions of the Voice, and I would see that as shoring up answers to the question you have,” Burney said.

“I know in my mind, as the minister to have the comfort and to have the involvement of a Voice to a parliament such as the one you raised would be extremely comforting and important to me.”

If there was an unfolding crisis, the Voice would provide a sophisticated and knowledgeable group to assist, she said.

“The important thing is not the ins and outs of how it would work, but the fact that it would provide recognition in the constitution and will provide a source of advice across the parliament.”

A day after the wording on the Voice to parliament wording was announced, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney says she hopes there will be bipartisan support for the referendum.

The wording and amendments had been looked at rigorously by some of the best legal minds in the country, she said on ABC radio this morning.

The minister said the Liberals and Opposition were looking for excuses on the Voice.

“The Liberals are looking for excuses, and I think they’ve almost run out of excuses,” Burney said on RN Breakfast.

She said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton will have to make a call on his party’s support for the Voice.

“My real hope … is that he provides bipartisan support in the way that happened during the week on the machinery bill, but it is his decision,” she said.

“What is absolutely clear is that this referendum will go ahead, and it is up to the Australian people. If there is not bipartisan support that would be unfortunate, but it will not stop the referendum going ahead.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is poised to fight for a historic referendum victory without bipartisan support after he unveiled details of the Voice to parliament’s scope and powers, releasing a final revision of the wording that would limit the Indigenous body’s authority over parliament.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demanded the government release the solicitor-general’s advice on the Voice, repeating his call for additional detail and showing no hints of supporting the referendum, paving the way for a partisan split that imperils the vote’s success.

Fighting back tears, Albanese acknowledged the risk of failure but vowed there was now no calling off the vote because “to not put this to a vote is to concede defeat. You only win when you run on the field and engage”.

“We’re all in,” he said, flanked by a group of senior Indigenous leaders including academic Marcia Langton, who tearfully warned of scare campaigns against the Voice and positioned the referendum as a “line in the sand” moment to heal the wounds of dispossession.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney will speak about the Voice referendum shortly, but read the latest about the split here.

The Australian Conservation Foundation boss has gone on ABC Radio National to defend her organisation’s position on the safeguard mechanism to reduce emissions.

It comes after Greens founder Bob Brown handed back his life membership of the ACF, accusing the environment group of undermining the planet’s future by calling on the minor party to back the Albanese government’s signature climate reform.

The safeguard mechanism is designed to impose binding caps on Australia’s 215 biggest polluters to force them to reduce their carbon footprint by a cumulative 205 million tonnes by the end of the decade.

Australian Conservation Foundation boss Kelly O’Shanassy told RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas the group didn’t support the government’s signature policy.

“We don’t actually support the government’s [safeguard] mechanism as it stands right now. We’ve been clear on that for months actually,” she said this morning.

“What we have said is we need to strengthen it, but we do actually need a climate policy in this nation. Otherwise, emissions will keep going up.

“So we greatly respect Bob. He has done amazing, amazing things for nature in Australia, and I hope he reconsiders, but he’s actually got our position completely wrong.”

O’Shanassy said the safeguard mechanism would be the start of climate policy in Australia.

Former Greens leader Christine Milne says it would be fair and reasonable for the Greens to block the Albanese government’s signature climate policy if the minor party’s demands to veto new coal and gas projects are not met, and put the onus on Labor to find a solution.

The former Tasmanian senator – who led the Greens from 2012 to 2015 and was deputy leader in 2009 when the party blocked the Rudd government’s emissions trading scheme – argued the safeguard mechanism was not enough to address the threats of climate change.

She is the second former Greens leader to speak out on the policy after party founder Bob Brown weighed in on Wednesday.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has demanded the federal government veto any new coal or gas projects in return for his party’s crucial Senate support for the safeguard mechanism, which will impose pollution limits on the nation’s 215 biggest carbon emitters.

More on the safeguard mechanism debate is available here.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he is seeking urgent advice from the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police after independent senator Lidia Thorpe was tackled by an officer after trying to confront an anti-trans rally outside Parliament House.

Dreyfus said the footage of Thorpe going to the ground after being grabbed by a police officer on the parliament lawn was “concerning”, while Thorpe’s former Greens’ colleagues have also sought a briefing from police as soon as possible about the clash.

“I have sought urgent advice from the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. The AFP has announced it has referred the incident to the AFP’s professional standards command for investigation,” Dreyfus said.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said, “this is very concerning to see. The AFP needs to explain how this occurred.”

Read what happened here. 

The Bank of England has raised interest rates by a quarter-point to 4.25 per cent to combat double-digit inflation, the 11th successive hike in less than 18 months.

The decision followed both the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve’s move to increase their benchmark rates in the past week, despite turmoil in the banking sector, which was partly triggered by tighter monetary policy.

It lifts UK interest rates to their highest since October 2008, early in the financial crisis, when the bank rate was 4.5 per cent. It also comes after inflation took a surprise leap to 10.4 per cent in February. Inflation hit a 41-year high at 11.1 per cent in October.

More on this courtesy our Europe correspondent here.