Federal election 2025: Penny Wong ‘let cat out of bag’ on Labor’s ‘secret plan’ for Voice says Peter Dutton

Penny Wong has “let the cat out of the bag” on Labor’s “secret plan” to dig up the failed Voice to Parliament after the election, Peter Dutton claims.

The Opposition Leader’s attack comes after Senator Wong hinted on a podcast that the Voice had not yet been put to bed. Ms Wong, who last year married long term partner Sophie Allouache, had compared the failed referendum to the same-sex marriage plebiscite which she twice voted against in 2008 and 2010, in keeping with Labor’s official position at the time. Anthony Albanese was “not a pull the pin kind of guy,” Ms Wong told the podcast.

Senator Wong later backed away from her comments, saying the Indigenous Voice to Parliament is “gone” as the Prime Minister went into damage control, denying Ms Wong had implied a return to the failed Voice referendum.

“She didn’t say that. She did not say that. She spoke about how people will look back on what the issues were,” Mr Albanese insisted.

Campaigning in Melbourne, Mr Dutton said people would be opposed to that stance because they had already “sent a very clear message to the Prime Minister” by rejecting the proposal in the 2023 referendum.

He urged voters to again send that message to Labor at the ballot box this weekend.

“I think the Prime Minister should have heard the voice of the Australian public when they voted no in the referendum. Clearly, they haven’t,” he said.

“Now it would be one of the first items of business for a Labor-Greens government to introduce legislation to put in place the voice and treaty and truth telling, etc.

“It’s obvious that the Prime Minister shares the view of Penny Wong.

“I know there are a lot of Australians who really feel that this government – even though they were Labor voters and probably they voted Labor all of their life – that this government has really let them down.

“You see Penny Wong out there at the moment talking about the fact that the Voice is inevitable.

“So under a Labor-Greens government, we see the secret plan to legislate the Voice and Penny Wong’s let that cat out of the bag. Send him a message at this election.”

Ms Wong’s comments put the Prime Minister on the spot on Wednesday after he had ruled out reviving the Voice in Sunday’s fourth leaders debate, with the definitive statement, “it is gone”.

“Well, that’s not what the Foreign Minister said at all,” he said when asked at the National Press Club.

“We supported a voice to Parliament. I did it out of conviction, not out of convenience.

“It’s not easy to win a referendum in this country.

“No Prime Minister has had a referendum in this country this century, the Voice to Parliament didn’t come from me.

“It came from First Nations people who had a constitutional convention at Uluru under the former government, under a process that they set up that led to that in 2017 we put it to the Australian people.

“I think that was something I said I would do, and we did.”

Ms Wong later said that “the Prime Minister has made that clear, and the Australian people have made their position clear, and we respect the result of the referendum”.

“What I would say is, that doesn’t mean reconciliation and closing the gap stops, and we need to keep together, progressing those.”

The Voice referendum proposed a constitutional change to create a permanent body of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives to advise the Parliament on laws and policies affecting First Nations people.

While spruiking his fuel excise policy in the Melbourne seat of Aston in the afternoon, Mr Dutton doubled down on his accusation, addressing comments made by Mr Albanese during his National Press Club address.

Mr Dutton warned voters that a Labor minority government would try to bring back the rejected Voice to Parliament.

“Let’s be clear about it, Penny Wong has let the cat out of the bag,” he reiterated.

“If you want to understand what this government would do with the Greens if they get elected. They would introduce the Voice by legislation.

“We will block it.

“So if you want to vote for Labor and the Greens you get the Voice.

“This is not some backbencher. This is Penny Wong the most important confidant of the Prime Minister.”

The Liberal leader had started his campaign on Wednesday at Seaford-based crisis charity MSFIN with his local Dunkley candidate Nathan Conroy and his wife Kirilly.

The charity provides essential material aid like clothes, prams, nappies, and household items to vulnerable families.

Manager Charlotte Davies said the grassroots organisation was in desperate need of funding to keep up with the 10-12 referrals they receive a day due to cost-of-living pressures on families.

He then travelled to the Labor-held marginal seat of Chisholm which had a large Chinese diaspora.

Mr Dutton had a yum cha lunch with Kirilly, local Liberal candidate Katie Allen and members of the Chinese community at a Glen Waverley restaurant.

While there he spoke about the Coalition’s readiness to champion Australia’s “great migrant story”.

“We’re all here, of course, to enjoy each other’s company, but . . . also (in) celebration of Chinese heritage and culture,” he told guests.

He described it as incredibly important to the Liberal party. “I’ve spoken a lot about our great migrant story in this country, and how I think we need to spend more time on celebrating the success of the migrant story.”

Mr Dutton’s trip across several Victorian seats comes after the leader declared he would blitz 28 in the final week of the campaign.

With just three days left until the May 3 poll, Mr Dutton said his team is working “day and night”.