The Australian Greens have officially backed the Voice to Parliament.
At a meeting in Canberra late on Monday the federal Greens party room resolved to support legislation to enable a referendum for a Voice to Parliament, and to campaign for a Yes vote in the Referendum, "pending sighting of the final bill".
The Voice referendum legislation can now pass the parliament regardless of whatever position the federal Liberal party takes – which is yet to be decided.
In a statement the Greens described the Voice referendum as "an important opportunity for the country to show its support for progress for First Nations people", and vowed to work for a "strong result".
The Greens have long argued that Treaty and a national Truth-telling process must also be pursued, and said the decision to back the Voice followed negotiations with the government "which led to guarantees on Sovereignty and funding to progress Treaty and Truth".
The Greens party room also resolved "to continue the fight for Treaty and Truth Telling and First Nations Justice", and noted that under their party room rules Senator Lidia Thorpe had the ability to vote differently on the legislation if she had remained a party member.
Senator Thorpe resigned from the party earlier on Monday.
Leader Adam Bandt said the Greens "were the first party to support all elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and today we reaffirm that commitment".
"Following months of discussion with Labor which resulted in funding for Truth and Treaty and guarantees that First Nations Sovereignty will not be ceded, and after discussion with our party and our own Blak Greens network, the Greens will support the Voice referendum," he said.
"We want the referendum to succeed, we want First Nations justice and we want Truth and Treaty as well as Voice.
"The Greens still strongly believe that a Treaty should come first. We have secured commitments from the government that they will proceed with Truth and Treaty as well as Voice, and we will be holding the government to account on this."
Mr Bandt said he did not believe a No vote "will get us closer to Treaty and Truth, but I respect that others in the First Nations community may have a different view on that".
"A strong First Nations body would be a further step towards true self-determination and justice," he said.
"I will join my fellow Greens MPs in campaigning for Yes."
