The former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop has called for Australians to support the Indigenous voice referendum, warning that existing policies aren’t working to close the gap.
Bishop, who was deputy leader of the Liberal party for 11 years, said many Indigenous people she respected greatly “have put a lot of thought into this and they believe that it is a step in the right direction”.
In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Bishop said: “So personally, my message to anyone who wants to listen to what I have to say is that I believe that it is a step in the right direction.
“I sat through too many of those Closing the Gap speeches in parliament to sense that what we were doing was working to close the disparity and inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.
“In some instances, the key measures were getting worse, not better, so it’s not a question of money, it’s not a question of politicians coming up with policies, it’s a question of giving Indigenous people the franchise to make decisions to implement policies that will work.
“We’ve got to give it a chance.”
Bishop is chancellor of the Australian National University, whose council announced in April that it “unreservedly supports enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the constitution, recognising its alignment with the university’s national mission”.
But until now, Bishop has not publicly outlined her personal position. The Liberal party under Peter Dutton’s leadership has resolved to oppose enshrining a voice in the constitution and is actively campaigning for a no vote.
Bishop declined to say whether she was disappointed that the Liberal party was actively campaigning against the proposal, with Dutton calling it divisive, risky, Orwellian and a plan to “re-racialise” Australia.
“I don’t express emotions these days about what goes on in politics,” she said. “I’m not excited, I’m not disappointed. I’m pragmatic about the choices that political parties take.”
Bishop acknowledged that the more complex and less bipartisan a referendum proposal was, the less likely it was to succeed.
She said no one was claiming that the voice would end inequality, but Australia should embrace the idea proposed by Indigenous people in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Asked whether she would publicly campaign for a yes vote, Bishop said: “I have just said to the National Press Club my position. That’s about as public as I get these days.”
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Bishop’s speech largely focused on global “megatrends”, including the shift in relative power between the US and China.
She said the Chinese government’s refusal to rule out the use of force in future to ensure “reunification” with self-governed Taiwan placed a number of countries, including Australia, in “an exquisite dilemma”.
“In the past, Australian governments have rejected the notion that they need to choose between the United States and China as our major international partner, but increasingly, both the United States and China are forcing a choice,” she said.
“And how this rivalry plays out is going to be of immense importance to Australia, to the Indo-Pacific and to the globe.”
Bishop said she believed Australia had a role to play, alongside other like-minded nations, “as a moderator, as a facilitator of continued discussions”.
“We, like-minded nations, can help ensure that Taiwan does not become part of a ladder of escalation, with military conflict over Taiwan as the last step on that ladder,” she said.
“And in fact whenever there is an escalation of tensions between the US and China, it’s in all of our interests to ensure there is a corresponding de-escalation.”
Bishop, who played a prominent role in the Coalition’s campaign to dismantle the Gillard government’s carbon pricing scheme, also called for efforts to reach a bipartisan climate policy in Australia.
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