Peter Dutton says Indigenous voice referendum on track to fail following meeting with working group

Working group member challenges Dutton’s account of the meeting, saying they were ‘not that far apart’ on the voice question

Peter Dutton has warned the Indigenous voice referendum is on track to fail, blaming prime minister Anthony Albanese for a “conscious decision” to withhold detail that is, in fact, still being developed.

But a key member of the referendum working group, Thomas Mayo, has challenged Dutton’s account of Thursday’s meeting, saying that the opposition leader’s personal views showed they were “not that far apart” on the voice question. Mayo said he believed any public “contradiction” was “more to do with the pressures Dutton is under from the party room” to say no to the voice.