Linda Burney ready for the biggest week of her political career

A defiant Linda Burney has “no regrets” looking back on a tumultuous Voice referendum campaign as she urges Indigenous Australians experiencing “ugliness” in the national debate to log off social media.

A defiant Linda Burney has “no regrets” looking back on a tumultuous Voice referendum campaign as she urges Indigenous Australians experiencing “ugliness” in the national debate to log off social media.

In an exclusive interview with less than one week to polling day, the Indigenous Australians Minister said she felt “invigorated” despite the long campaign, having drawn strength from the “enthusiasm and belief” of the more than 50,000 Yes volunteers around the country.

“We will work conversation-by-conversation, and will not let up at all,” she said.

“My final pitch is that everyone agrees on one thing: that Aboriginal disadvantage in this country is unacceptable.

“The No camp has no solution to address that, the Yes camp believe the Voice is instrumental to not only better expenditure, but better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Linda Burney at the Yes 23 campaign in Clearview. Picture: Matt Loxton

Asked if she believed the Yes camp and government could have run a stronger campaign, Ms Burney said: “I don’t have any regrets”.

“The people will make up their decision in one week’s time and I have faith in that decision,” she said.

Ms Burney said she was “proud” of the way she had conducted herself throughout the debate, but admitted some of the public commentary had taken its toll.

“There has been a lot of ugliness, that’s true,” she said.

“I have stopped looking at my social media accounts.

“I have also said for the Aboriginal people that have seen the ugly side of what’s gone on in this country, but also for a lot of non-Aboriginal people that have put their hand up (for Yes), that the important thing is to be proud of who you are, be strong in your identity.”

Ms Burney told anyone struggling with the referendum debate to “get off social media”.

“It is not healthy,” she said.

Yes23 Director Dean Parkin, with Linda Burney and South Australian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher in Clearview, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. Picture: Matt Loxton

“Just believe in yourself, believe in what’s right … and understand we are doing something in this generation for the next.”

Ms Burney will continue to crisscross the nation rallying volunteers in the lead up to October 14, having campaigned in Hobart, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Bendigo, Cairns, Yarrabah and Adelaide in the past fortnight alone.

In her stump speeches to Yes volunteers, Ms Burney has highlighted Closing the Gap statistics, recently emphasising figures like the fact Indigenous Australians are twice as likely to die by suicide than their non-Indigenous peers.

“We’ve all been touched by this,” she told a rally in Cairns.

The issue is particularly personal for Ms Burney, who lost her 33-year-old son Binni Kirkbright-Burney in 2017.

Ms Burney said there were many people who “don’t understand” the statistics of Indigenous disadvantage, as well as many who have “heard them often”.

Linda Burney said the country was making this decision for the next generation. Photo by Brian Cassey

“The importance of mainstream Australia understanding that no matter who you are in the Aboriginal community, whether you’re working in a school, whether you’re a politician, whether you’re a cultural performer, an artist, the issue of sorry business touches us all in a very real way,” she said.

“I’ve been to communities where there’s been two or three recent deaths of young people in that community, and I believe Australia should know about this and feel empowered that they can do something about it.”

For the referendum to succeed the Yes campaign must secure the support of the majority of Australians, as well as win over residents in four of the six states.

Queensland is the only state to have consistently polled majority No even before the referendum question was finalised, while support slumped in Western Australia in July amid community concerns around now-scrapped Indigenous heritage laws.

NSW and Victoria are considered solid support bases for the Yes camp, leaving South Australia and Tasmania as the “must-win” states.

Ms Burney sees every state as important.

“South Australia and Tasmania are crucially important, but so are other states and territories, that double majority is very firmly understood,” Ms Burney said.

“Change is hard and that’s what we’re fighting for because the status quo cannot continue in terms of life expectancy, housing, suicide rates and the list goes on.”

From Hobart to Yarrabah in Far North Queensland, Ms Burney has enthralled volunteers with stories about the power of one-on-one conversations, describing interactions where through explaining the Voice and constitutional recognition she had changed minds.

“Whether we are First Nations or not, we share a country that has an extraordinary history and an extraordinary story of 65,000 years,” she told Tasmanian volunteers.

“I want us on the 15th of October, to be able to stand up taller, stand up proud and stand up stronger as a nation.”