Parliament of Victoria | Legislative Council | Motion by Ms Symes
2 April 2026
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan Region):
I was watching this in my office, and I have to say I was just so disgusted, I felt I just had to come up and make a very brief comment. Can I firstly commend the comments from Ms Watt. I think she captured exactly the moral as well as the legal obligations that are incumbent upon this chamber to comply with a legal obligation that we have as a result of the ratification of the Statewide Treaty Act 2025. I think that is our first point of departure and should remain our focus.
And if we are to debate, then that debate should be how that obligation will be met, not whether or not it should be heard. We are not here to rerun a debate over treaty and whether or not it has anything to do with the Voice. That debate has been had, that debate has been lost by the opposition, and we need to move on and make some decisions about how we meet those obligations.
References, clearly, to the Voice are not apples-to-apples. It is a separate sphere, it is a different procedure, it is a different institution and I will not go into it further. But it is, I think, insulting to the intelligence of both the house and the Victorian public to suggest that there is a compatibility.
I would also like to say that I have personally attacked this government because we have not been doing this. I think about the optics of having, on the day, I think it was, that treaty was signed or ratified by the Governor, the Bail Amendment (Tough Bail) Bill 2025 being presented, when there was no consultation with the First Nations community. It was criticised by a number of us, correctly so.
It would be absolutely hypocritical for us now not to welcome the fact that the government is going to meet its legal obligations. This is a good thing to do. It is the right thing to do. I commend this procedural motion to the house.
[Council divided on motion]
Voted for: Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Anasina Gray-Barberio, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt
Voted against: Melina Bath, Jeff Bourman, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Renee Heath, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Evan Mulholland, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch
[Motion passed 20 votes to 15]
