Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has described the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament as a "reckless roll of the dice" which would have an Orwellian effect and "take our country backwards not forwards".
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But the Minister for Indigenous Australians countered him, saying he and his ilk were "hellbent on stoking division".
Linda Burney and Mr Dutton on Monday opened the House of Representatives debate on the referendum-establishing constitutional alteration bill, which a Labor-dominated parliamentary committee has recommended be passed without amendment.
It comes as Liberal MP Keith Wolahan accused Indigenous leader Noel Pearson of making an "odious slur" against Mr Dutton, in discussing the Opposition Leader's opposition to the Voice.
Mr Dutton is pressing on and is now claiming it is an "overcorrection" for disadvantage and that, if passed, the Voice will "fundamentally alter" Australia, and "not for the better". He also referred to the George Orwell classic political satire, Animal Farm.
"Changing our constitution to enshrine a voice will take our country backwards, not forwards," Mr Dutton told Parliament.
"It will have an Orwellian effect where, 'All Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others'."
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If passed, the constitutional alteration legislation triggers the holding of a referendum later this year proposing a Voice to Parliament be enshrined in the constitution. The proposed referendum question, contained in the bill, also formally recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of Australia.
Mr Dutton repeated criticisms there has not been enough detail about the Voice and the Albanese government wants Australians to vote for it "on a vibe".
"Instead we had a 4.5-day committee, a kangaroo court led by a government that never wanted to entertain changes to its bill," he said.
"If Australians have buyers' remorse the Voice comes with a no-returns policy. It's here to stay. And yet this institution hasn't even been road-tested. The approach is a reckless roll of the dice."
The Minister for Indigenous Australians has rubbished Mr Dutton's position criticising him for peddling "disinformation and misinformation and scare campaigns that exist in this debate."
"This great endeavour has not been rushed into. No short cuts have been taken. It has been a grassroots movement, the culmination of years of discussion, consultation and hard work by so many," she told Parliament.
"At its heart the Uluru Statement [from the Heart] is about listening, listening to the advice from on the ground and communities, because this thing is a prerequisite for policies that work."
Ms Burney said all the best legal advice, including from the Solicitor-General, was not enough for those "hellbent on stoking division".
"It's not enough for those trying to play politics with an issue that should be above partisan politics," she said.
Earlier, Mr Wolahan, the deputy chair of the committee looking into the alteration bill, defended his leader from an attack last month by Mr Pearson on ABC radio, where Mr Dutton had been called out for his "Judas betrayal" of the nation.
The Liberal MP for Menzies had made his point by thanking all those people who had contributed to the inquiry.
"They were not afflicted by subconscious racism, or bed-wetting, or the odious slur 'Judas betrayal'. They are our fellow Australians, many of whom have worked tirelessly for years for the cause of reconciliation," he said.
"We are better than this. If such attacks on motive and personality are normalised, we will be a more divided nation, no matter the result."