I'm not suggesting for a minute that Indigenous Affairs isn't a...

I'm not suggesting for a minute that Indigenous Affairs isn't a highly politicised topic BB, but again I disagree with you. I'm on board with the fact that a Government couldn't conceal any advice (at least, I'm prepared to accept that at face value. I'm not sure any advice has to be open to the public), but in the same way they couldn't conceal advice given by a legislated body either.

This is the crux of the issue, BB. There's no material difference between a legislated Voice that gets abolished and an enshrined Voice that gets ignored. Both produce the same material result for Indigenous Australians, and any Government who would be prepared to do one wouldn't blink in doing the other.

Given that, it would have been a far more successful strategy (and far less divisive) to have a referendum on Recognition, and legislate a Voice, both of which would have met with success at their respective votes. This would have become clear to the proponents of the Voice referendum had they chosen to pursue reconciliation with the representative body with which they were attempting to reconcile, instead of restricting the reconciliation process to Indigenous Australians and their hangers-on only.