Indigenous voice: Coalition digs in on ‘lack of transparency’ claim despite Labor releasing legal advice

The Coalition is still accusing the Albanese government of a "lack of transparency" on the Indigenous voice referendum, despite the release of advice from the nation's top legal adviser.

The government released a legal opinion on Friday from solicitor general Stephen Donaghue, saying that the voice wouldn't clog up the courts or slow down government decision making - rebuffing a central claim of critics and the Coalition.

Legal experts and yes campaigners welcomed the release, but the opposition said it wanted to see all the advice the solicitor general had provided to the government on the voice.

"This is not the advice which the opposition has repeatedly called for the government to release but rather a cynical political tactic to confuse Australians," said the shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash.

"The failure to release all of the solicitor general's advice in relation to this matter yet again highlights the lack of transparency of the Albanese government regarding their Canberra voice proposal."

Donaghue's opinion, dated 19 April, was released as a submission by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to the parliamentary inquiry probing the voice ahead of the referendum. The advice states that the voice would not impose any obligations on the executive to follow the voice's representations or to consult before developing policy or making decisions.

Cash was this week named as shadow attorney general after predecessor Julian Leeser quit the Coalition frontbench so he could campaign for the voice.

She said the opposition "will review this new advice" but also noted that Donaghue had provided other advice on 26 September 2022 and 23 January 2023.

"If the prime minister and attorney general are going to be true to their word and be fair, open and transparent with the Australian people they should immediately release all of the solicitor general's advice about the voice," Cash said.

"Australians are entitled to see all of the solicitor general's advice about the voice."

The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, said the opposition would "give it due diligence".

"Legal advice is important, and it forms part of the landscape around the conversation on the voice. This advice was written it appears in the last couple of days. I would like to see all of the advice including the initial advice released," she said.

Albanese earlier claimed the opposition would continue raising new objections to the voice, even after the advice's release.

"We don't release, nor do any government ever release, advice to cabinet," he said, when asked why the document released was not the one provided to cabinet.

"A whole lot of nonsense arguments have been put up, including on the solicitor general's argument. There'll be another one when the Coalition have a look at the solicitor general's advice. My bold prediction is that they will say, 'Now there's another test that has to be made'. So they still won't support it."

The legal opinion was warmly received by key supporters of the voice.

"The scaremongering about the scope of the voice and its legal impactions can now cease," said Prof Megan Davis, co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue and a key architect of the voice.

"Questions about allowing the voice to make representations to the executive government have been answered by some of the highest constitutional legal officers in the country and backed up by advice from the solicitor general."

Davis noted "the weight of legal opinion clearly points to the proposed wording being legally sound", citing similar assessments from constitutional experts including former high court justice Kenneth Hayne, Prof Anne Twomey, Bret Walker SC and Prof George Williams.

"While we still need to wait for the committee report and the parliament to pass the proposed set of words, if they remain as currently drafted, Australians can be confident they will both deliver on the ask of the Uluru statement of the Heart and are constitutionally sound," she said.

Williams tweeted: "Solicitor General's opinion is profoundly unsurprising.

"It explains the words in the Constitution will only enable the voice to make representations to Parliament and Executive. No wave of litigation, no reciprocal obligations. Representative and responsible government enhanced."

Dean Parkin, director of the Yes 23 campaign, said the advice showed the voice was legally safe.

"Or in other words, this is a safe and practical change that will be focused on the real issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities," he said.

"The advice comprehensively confirms the tireless efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over many years to get this point of putting the question of a voice to the Australian people in a referendum."

Parkin and Davis have both been involved heavily in the government's referendum working group process. Williams was among constitutional experts who advised on the proposed question and constitutional amendment.