Piers Akerman: Anthony Albanese’s record shows he can’t be trusted by Aussie voters

The Indigenous people Anthony Albanese claimed to want to help the most have gone backwards – just like the rest of the population but more catastrophically, writes Piers Akerman.

Voting is a matter of trust and Anthony Albanese’s record shows he can’t be trusted. Not after that promise to cut electricity costs was made 97 times only to be smashed as the power bills soared.

But his biggest and most repugnant backflip was on the victory vow he made on election night of May 21, 2022, to deliver the so-called Voice to Parliament, a constitutionally enshrined advisory body for Indigenous Australians.

Eighteen months later, on October 14, 2023, Australians resoundingly rejected the proposal. Nearly two-thirds of the voting public – 60.06 per cent – voted no. All six states said no.

In the face of the nation’s overwhelming verdict, Albanese disowned his own referendum. He claimed it wasn’t really his idea. The same man who tied his legacy to the Voice on election night suddenly tried to wash his hands of it.

An analysis of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 Indigenous Expenditure Report showed that state and federal spending directed to Indigenous Australians in 2025-2016 was $33.4bn.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro in Alice Springs in February. The country needs more than a photo op. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Adjusted for inflation to December 2024 dollars, that is now estimated to have reached $42.87bn.

Throw in the $507,000 the Reserve Bank spent on designs for a new $5 bill featuring Aboriginal art and that’s more than $43bn blown on virtue-signalling programs which have done nothing for marginalised Aboriginals, particularly in remote communities.

Violence in the early hours of a Saturday morning in Alice Springs. Picture: Liam Mendes/The Australian

The people Albanese claimed to want to help the most have gone backwards – just like the rest of the population but more catastrophically.

There is mayhem on the streets of Darwin and Alice Springs.

While Albanese was busy staging his referendum and schmoozing with celebrities at the Australian Open – ice cream in hand, selfies with the elite – regional Australia was paying the price for his government’s disastrous policies.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2022-2023 report paints a shocking picture: Indigenous women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised due to domestic violence than non-Indigenous women. In remote communities, they’re 10 times more likely to be hospitalised than their city counterparts.

That’s a national disgrace.

According to the ABS, assaults in the Northern Territory rose 11 per cent between 2022 and 2023 – the highest number since data collection began 30 years ago. Sexual assaults surged a staggering 25 per cent.

These are not numbers you can spin away. These are cries for help from communities ignored by a government too obsessed with glossy PR campaigns to notice the human cost.

In July 2022, Albanese lifted alcohol bans that had been in place in certain Indigenous communities for 15 years. Property offences in Alice Springs exploded by almost 60 per cent. Commercial break-ins were up 55 per cent. Alcohol-related assaults up 55 per cent. Domestic violence up 53 per cent. Overall assaults up 43 per cent.

Albanese spent a few hours in Alice Springs – just long enough for a photo op – then flew out to enjoy the tennis with his mates in corporate Australia.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as long called for a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities and a full audit of all spending on Indigenous programs. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Shadow minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has long called for a Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities and a full audit of all spending on Indigenous programs. The Albanese government won’t touch these ideas.

Price was vilified by Labor’s Indigenous shills for the Voice while its supporters were given awards for their failed divisive work.

The activists were honoured. The bureaucrats were funded. The true victims – the women, the children, the frightened elders – remain neglected by Canberra’s elite.

This country is crying out for leadership – real leadership. Not ice cream selfies. Not slogans. Not costly self-righteous campaigns.

Albanese says the Voice is dead but the Labor states are pursuing treaty and reparations programs against the wishes of the population.

Trust Albanese to change in the next three years, no siree!

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