Ken Wyatt, the first Indigenous Australian to sit in cabinet, quit the Liberal Party on Thursday following the party's decision to oppose the Voice to Parliament.
"I still believe in the Liberal Party values but I don’t believe in what the Liberals have become," Mr Wyatt told the publication. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
Mr Wyatt, who was the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the federal House of Representatives, had long urged his Liberal colleagues to back the Voice model. He is a member of the Indigenous working group set up to advise the Albanese government on its referendum strategy and stood alongside the Prime Minister as he announced the wording for the proposed change to the constitution.
Last week the former Liberal cabinet minister warned the party could be perceived as"racist" if it chose not to back the Voice to Parliament, as he called on Mr Dutton to at least give MPs a conscience vote.
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