Resignation of Julian Leeser

As an elected official, Julian Leeser has done more than any other constitutional conservative to advance the Indigenous Voice.

He has engaged deeply in Indigenous communities and crucially, on the legal and constitutional details for a decade. He has invested a huge amount of his political capital in an issue which has been highly contested within the Liberal Party.

Julian has always understood a successful referendum would be considerably more likely with liberal and conservative support.

This referendum is too important to play politics and it is not good enough to oppose the referendum on process grounds.

I want the referendum to be successful and I believe a ‘Yes’ vote is now more likely because of Julian’s conviction.

As Julian said in his statement, the immediate task is to engage deeply in the Committee process. There will be more to say about campaigning arrangements following the Committee process.