Voice to Parliament referendum won’t succeed without ‘bipartisan support’: Howard

Former prime minister John Howard says he doesn’t believe the Voice to Parliament proposal will be accepted in a referendum unless it has bipartisan support – and even then, “it might not succeed”.

He said anything that raises the possibility of division and giving “special status” won’t work.

“There are some people in the Coalition who are totally opposed to anything that the government will put up in this area,” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“There are some who are sympathetic to it, to a large degree there are a lot in the middle who have good will who basically think the way in which you have true reconciliation is to improve the lifestyles and opportunities and job prospects of Indigenous Australians.”