Anthony Albanese listening to ‘top end’ on Indigenous voice to parliament, says Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton has blamed Anthony Albanese for any damage to Australia’s international reputation in the wake of a failed voice referendum.

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Peter Dutton in Perth earlier this week to promote the No vote. Picture: Colin Murty

Peter Dutton has blamed Anthony Albanese for any damage to Australia’s international reputation in the wake of a failed voice referendum, and claimed the Prime Minister didn’t water down the model because “Alan Joyce and others” told him not to.

With 10 days to go until polls close, the Opposition Leader predicted Australians would vote No “in record number” as prominent Yes campaigner Noel Pearson accused people who have demanded more detail about the voice – including supporter Frank Brennan – of deliberately confusing voters.

Mr Dutton has previously hit out at the government and some business leaders for suggesting Australia’s international reputation would be tarnished by a No vote, but on Wednesday appeared to agree it would.

“The Prime Minister has been warned of this,” he said.

“The Prime Minister predicted months ago that this would set back reconciliation, that it would create an international reputational risk for us, but did he stop? Did he change the wording? Did he tighten the wording? No he did none of that because Alan Joyce and others were telling him not to.

“So when you hang out with the top end of town you forget about what normal people in the suburbs and the cities and the regions are saying, and that’s the problem the Prime Minister’s got. I think he’s out of touch.

“I think the Prime Minister is misleading the Australian people at the moment when he says that this is just a ‘mild, modest, respectful change’. This is the biggest change to our Constitution proposed since federation. And nobody understands what it is that he’s talking about.”

Mr Albanese has repeatedly said it was Aboriginal people who had endorsed and wanted the voice proposal the government has put to the Australian people.

“They met at Uluru in 2017 and said, ‘you know what, the form of constitutional recognition that we want is one that has a bit of substance and something that lasts. Give us a body that may be able to give that advice, and either listen to it or not’,” Mr Albanese told WSFM radio on Wednesday.

“Indigenous people are saying they want the security of not putting in all this effort to create a body and to have that continuity, just (to) have someone come along and say, for whatever reason people like Pauline Hanson, of course, would want it abolished at any time. Other countries have had Indigenous seats. There are seats reserved for Maoris in New Zealand. So this is a really modest request and that’s why I sincerely hope that in the last 11 days that we have to go, people will have a read of the question and decide, ‘you know what, this is the right thing to do. I’m going to vote Yes’.”

Mr Albanese, who said he had been heartened by Australians eager to vote Yes, was approached for a response. The Australian was told Mr Joyce was overseas for personal commitments and was unable to verify the claim made by Mr Dutton.

One of the Pacific’s most senior leaders also declared on Wednesday a Yes result would boost Australia’s credibility on the world stage. Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna said while other nations “have no right to interfere” in Australia’s domestic policies, Australia’s international reputation would be enhanced if the Yes case was successful. “It would be wonderful to see Australia vote Yes, because I think it will elevate Australia’s position and even credibility on the international stage,” he said.

Mr Puna’s comment follows that of Vanuatu’s former foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu that a No vote would damage Australia’s reputation in the Pacific.

“It is almost inconceivable to us that this may not happen, but that possibility fills us with dread,” the sitting MP said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “A No vote will be a blow to our relationship, especially perceptions of Aust (sic) in our general public.”

Campaigning in South Australia on Wednesday, opposition ­Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said many voters couldn’t express their support for No, which was “really shameful I think in a democratic country such as our own”.

“We don’t want our Constitution divided along the lines of race. We want to maintain equal citizenship for all Australians, with no sort of changes based on heritage, how far back one’s heritage goes in this country. So I’m really grateful for the incredible support the Australian people have certainly showed me as I’ve toured around the country, and continuing on until October 14,” she said.

Mr Pearson, who during the Morrison government suggested putting out draft voice legislation and then setting it aside until after the referendum, said the outcome on October 14 would determine if Australians were a forward-looking and inclusive people or “a fractious, divisive, looking to the past people”.

He dismissed Father Brennan’s assessment the referendum had “created a hell of a mess” and that failing to provide draft legislation had been a serious misstep.

“It’s a deliberate confusion,” he told 10 News First. “It’s like the Taxation Act. When we put taxation in the Constitution in 1901, did we tell them what the acceptable deductions would be in 2023? No. It’s always parliament’s job to keep legislating the details and sometimes scrapping the details and replacing it holus-bolus. Now that’s the power of the parliament. The important point is to concentrate on the 92 words we will vote on next Saturday that says that it’s parliament that makes the detail.”

As both sides of the voice debate accuse the other of being supported by extremists, Indigenous leader Marcus Stewart said it was concerning that far-right activist Blair Cottrell was supporting the No campaign.

Mr Cottrell, a former United Patriots Front leader, last week reposted The Australian’s story headlined “Far-right ‘hijacking’ Indigenous voice to parliament No campaign, says Labor” with: “Of course we are.”

Mr Stewart said extremists’ views did not belong in modern Australia, triggering a rebuke from voice opponents who say the Yes case is “gratefully receiving” support from the Communist Party.