Labor minister Anika Wells fuels speculation The Voice is still alive in party's ranks
Labor frontbencher Anika Wells has appeared to suggest a third position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in as many days, reigniting political tensions over the defeated proposal.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong sparked a firestorm when she suggested the Voice, like the struggle for marriage equality, was inevitable in a podcast interview with the Betoota Talks podcast.
'We'll look back on it in ten years' time, and it'll be a bit like marriage equality,' Senator Wong told the Betoota Talks podcast.
'I always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done, and I thought, all this fuss... It'll become something, it'll be like, people go "did we even have an argument about that?"
Her backing for the Indigenous body came just three days after Anthony Albanese ruled out any attempt to bring back the Voice, telling the leaders' debate: 'It's gone... I respect the outcome (of the referendum), we live in a democracy.'
Sen Wong later echoed Mr Albanese's words in an apparent backflip, telling SBS, 'the Voice is gone... The prime minister has made that clear, and the Australian people have made their position clear, and we respect the result of the referendum.'
But now the Minister for Aged Care and Sport has suggested that the Voice may continue in another 'form'.
Appearing on the ABC's News Breakfast this morning, Wells was asked directly: 'Voice to Parliament, will it make a comeback do you think at some point?'
She responded: 'The Voice in the form we took to the referendum is gone.
'We respect the opinions and the votes of people, they made that very clear, but we're always looking for ways to help First Nations people and for that policy to be tangible and credible.'
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has touted Ms Wells as a future leader of the party.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seized on Wells' comments, claiming it was evidence that 'the Voice, in some form, presumably through legislation, is going to be a part of the Albanese government's next term in power, if they're successful on Saturday'.
'I'll just ask Australians to think about that for a second,' he said.
'You sent a very clear message to the prime minister that you said no to the Voice, and now the prime minister is saying back to you, "well, we've got this secret plan, when we're in government, to reintroduce the Voice in the form of legislation".'
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