THE Border's highest profile religious leader says he will be voting against the Indigenous Voice because he believes it could create "hell".
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Albury Anglican rector Father Peter MacLeod-Miller was speaking after Farrer MP Sussan Ley cited him when she told federal parliament on Tuesday May 30, 2023 of her plan to vote no on the Voice.
"My current view is that I will vote against it because if the amount of trouble it has caused so far is indicative of the trouble it will cause in the future it will be hell," Father MacLeod-Miller said.
He said he supported the welfare of Indigenous people but fears having an enshrined Voice in the constitution will form a "race card".
However, Father MacLeod-Miller will not sermonise for a no vote, saying it would disrespect his congregation.
"I'll certainly be saying 'it's all right to vote yes' and 'it's all right to vote no', but I personally think there will be far more people voting no," he said.
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Father MacLeod-Miller suggested that the referendum put in 1967, which resulted in Indigenous people being counted in the census and allowed federal laws to be made for them, was at odds with the Voice proposal.
"The referendum of 1967 was swept in on the wings of equality," he said.
"I think this Voice sadly frustrates the idea of equality, in fact it corrupts the idea of equality.
"People believed in equality in 1967 and they still believe in equality now and I think for that reason they will vote no."
The manager of Deniliquin's Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre, David Crew, said he was not surprised that Ms Ley would be voting against the Voice.
"It's just recognition that her office needs to be open to the Aboriginal community," Mr Crew said.
He noted the Voice was devised by Indigenous minds.
"It's not Albanese's referendum, it's not the Labor Party's referendum, this is the Aboriginal community's offer," Mr Crew said.
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