In a dusty field in north-east Arnhem land, Linda Burney and Anthony Albanese are locked in the sort of embrace that only very close friends could share. Their faces just inches apart, her arm is around his neck while he supports her back as if to dip her gently at the end of a waltz.

Burney is congratulating the prime minister after his speech in late July at the Garma Festival – likened to a First Nations Davos – where he has just put forward his proposal for a referendum question: Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?