Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been called out for his "Judas betrayal" of the nation by a leading Indigenous figure responding to the Liberal Party's decision not to support a voice.
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After a two-hour meeting with his federal colleagues on Wednesday, Mr Dutton announced the party would not support the proposed model to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution.
Instead, the Liberals will push for a legislated local and regional voice.
Leading Indigenous academic Noel Pearson, one of the architects of the Uluru Statement which proposed the voice, slammed the federal Liberals and Mr Dutton for the "miserable" position.
"I couldn't sleep last night. I was troubled by dreams and the spectre of the darkness of the Liberal Party's Judas betrayal of our country," Mr Pearson told ABC Radio National.
Mr Pearson described the opposition leader as an undertaker who was "preparing the grave" for the Uluru Statement.
"(Mr Dutton) doesn't mind chucking Indigenous Australians and the future of the country under the bus just so he can preserve his miserable political hide and it's sad," he said.
"Nevertheless, I am certain that every attempt to try and kill or bury Uluru will not succeed (and) the Australian people will rise to the historic opportunity we have to achieve reconciliation at last."
Indigenous leaders Ian Trust and Tyronne Garstone said Mr Dutton's decision to oppose the voice proposal was "bitterly disappointing".
"In saying 'no' the Liberals and Nationals are seeking to take us backwards as a nation," Mr Garstone said.
"We called for bipartisan support for the referendum but political games are being played with our lives and futures, and the future of the entire nation."
A Newspoll conducted for The Australian this week showed 54 per cent of all voters support constitutional recognition and the voice to parliament, with 38 per cent opposed.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff - the only Liberal leader in government in Australia - has backed the proposal along with major banks, universities, businesses, religious groups and sporting organisations.
Mr Dutton said while he supported Indigenous recognition in the constitution, he remained concerned about a lack of detail around the voice proposal.
Yet Indigenous business leader Sean Gordon - a member of the government's referendum working group - told Sky News questions about the principles of the voice had been answered.
He said Mr Dutton had not put forward details about how he would structure the local and regional voices he proposed instead of a national voice.
Fellow working group member Thomas Mayo said multiple attempts to engage with the Liberals and Nationals had not gone anywhere.
"There has been six years of constant discussions with Liberal MPs and National MPs to answer their questions, to respond to their concerns and it seems everything that we have said has gone in one ear and out the other," he told ABC News.
"They never wanted to listen ... I hope the Australian people decide that we are sick of politics being played on these matters and we want to move forward."
Australian Associated Press
