Andrew Gee breaks rank to support Indigenous Voice

In what was a blow for the proposal, the Nationals announced on Monday that the party would "not support" it to create another layer of "Canberra bureaucracy" and would allow individual members, such as strident "no" campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, to campaign as they want.

But a day later, several Nationals MPs, including the Federal Member for Calare, said they would back the Voice.

"As followers of this page and local politics will know, I have been a long-time supporter of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament," Mr Gee wrote on his Facebook page.

"I wasn't present for the Nationals' party room meeting on the issue yesterday (Monday) as I was in Eugowra but my position on it hasn't changed. While I respect the opinions of my colleagues, I'm still a supporter."

On Monday, Nationals leader David Littleproud said the party had taken a position that Voice wouldn't "close the gap" on Indigenous disadvantage.

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"So the National Party has made a position that we will not support this to Parliament," he told reporters at Parliament House.

"We believe in empowering local Indigenous communities, giving them the power at a local level. Not creating another layer of bureaucracy here in Canberra."

Mr Littleproud was surrounded by most of the Nationals party room as he announced the decision. Darren Chester, who is overseas, later tweeted that he supported the party's position.

But Mr Gee said the Australian Government did not need to provide more detail on what was proposed and that "a number of our local Indigenous groups want this detail as well because they want to make sure they have a voice within the Voice."

"So yes, there is still a heck of a lot of hard work to do. To achieve a Voice we'll need that as well as goodwill, open minds and generosity of spirit.

"Reconciliation in Australia has made significant progress in recent years but there is still a long way for us all to travel. Let's keep working at it and walking down that road. Together we can do it."

West Australian Nationals leader Mia Davies also criticised her federal counterparts on Tuesday.

This wasn't the first time Mr Gee had spoken out against his party.

In March, the then Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs called a press conference to announce his resignation from the Morrison Government's cabinet after what he described as a 'token' allocation of $22.8 million in funding to address the problem.

The Member for Calare subsequently secured $96 million in funding to clear a backlog of more than 60,000 Australian Defence Force veterans claims as a result.

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