Thursday, 14 November 2024

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (18:34): (1290) I listened to what the Premier said today on the matter of treaty, and it appears that the Premier is preparing to try and entrench a treaty in the Victorian constitution. That is what I took out of some of the comments that the Premier made today. This is obviously directed to the Premier, this adjournment matter, and if my reading of what she said today is not correct, I would appreciate her telling me. But the essence of this is that I want the Premier to provide the house with an assurance that, before any such treaty is entrenched in the Victorian constitution, there is a plebiscite or a referendum.

The Victorian people should have a say in whether there is a treaty between one group of Victorians and another group of Victorians. The referendum we have just been through at a national level, the Voice referendum, saw it defeated in every single state in the country, 60–40 nationally and 55–45 in Victoria, defeating that voice. I think there are very good reasons for that. I voted no and I campaigned against the Voice because it would have entrenched in the Australian constitution very unfavourable arrangements that would have weakened the states, weakened our ability to control our destiny and thrown a spanner in the works on a whole range of different national objectives and national programs.

But at the same time in Victoria a treaty, depending on what that treaty is, has the capacity to cause terrible trouble. I watched on Sky News today an example from New Zealand of how treaty can be divisive, where a series of opposition MPs decided to begin a haka inside the Parliament chamber in New Zealand because the government over there is seeking to clarify what the meaning of ‘treaty matters’ is. My point in quoting that example today, literally from today, is that this can be very, very divisive, and we need to make sure that whatever is done is actually the will of the Victorian people and not something that is imposed on Victorians, perhaps being crunched through this Parliament, and locked away so that it can never be amended or tweaked or changed. Democracy is important, and if we are going to undermine democracy, I will be concerned.