Lawyers Weekly Australia reports
Julian Leeser has quit his roles as the opposition’s spokesperson for Indigenous Australians and as shadow attorney-general over the Liberal Party’s stated position regarding the upcoming referendum on the Voice to Parliament.
Earlier this morning (Tuesday 11 April), News Corp reported that Julian Leeser MP was going to resign his position from the federal shadow cabinet. At 10:30am AEST, Mr Leeser confirmed the media speculation with a statement on his Facebook page.
In explaining why, Mr Leeser wrote that, nearly a decade ago, he sat down with a small group of constitutional conservatives and Indigenous leaders and worked on a proposal for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians – which ultimately became the Voice.
It was, he wrote, about creating a new structure to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians – “and it was about finding common ground”.
“Over the past year, I have had many respectful discussions with my parliamentary colleagues about the Voice. I have listened to their views and they have heard mine, but ultimately, I have not been able to persuade them.”
Since Mr Leeser intends to campaign for the ‘Yes’ vote, he noted, he has resigned from the shadow ministry.
He noted that he remains committed to the Liberal Party and Peter Dutton’s leadership, and that his resignation from the frontbench is “not about personality, it’s about keeping faith with an issue that I have been working on for almost a decade “.
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