Indigenous voice to parliament: Anthony Albanese strikes back on length of Uluru Statement
Anthony Albanese has attempted to slap down Coalition accusations the Uluru Statement from the Heart is more than one page as ‘absolute conspiracy’.
Anthony Albanese has attempted to slap down Coalition accusations the Uluru Statement from the Heart is more than one page as “absolute conspiracy and nonsense”, amid claims the Indigenous Australians agency has faced political pressure to fall into line with the government.
The No campaign is intensifying debate over whether the Uluru statement is one or more pages as the Coalition points to previous comments from Megan Davis – an architect of the statement – that it was actually about 18 to 20 pages.
The Coalition is claiming the government is wrong to say the Uluru Statement is one page, arguing the document is 26 pages and includes statements about invasion, treaty and genocide.
“Professor Megan Davis, a key member of the Prime Minister’s referendum working group, has said and I quote, ‘the Uluru Statement from the Heart isn’t just the first one-page statement, it’s actually a very lengthy document of about 18 to 20 pages’. Does the Prime Minister agree?” asked Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley.
Mr Albanese fired back, referencing Professor Davis’s statement from Wednesday instead, in which she said: “Professor Megan Davis confirms the Uluru Statement from the Heart is one page, comprising 439 words.
“The Uluru statement is supported by other documents contained in the publicly available Referendum Council report that reflect and document the many regional dialogues and consultations leading up to the establishment of the Uluru statement.”
Writing exclusively in The Australian, Professor Davis says: “Politicians of bad faith like Pauline Hanson and the Coalition, who are on a unity ticket, are pointing to a Henry Parkes Oration I gave in 2018, where I say the Uluru Statement is not only the one pager, that there’s 18 to 20 more pages for Australians to read. This is alluding to the many pieces of information that informed the Uluru Statement or provide context to the statement.
“I can assure everyone that if the Statement from the Heart was 26 random pages, as some are contending, we would have read 26 pages out, footnotes and all. If it was 26 pages, it would be called Uluru War & Peace. But it’s not. It is a one-page invitation to the Australian people; a hand of friendship, compelling for its brevity and its generosity.”
Professor Davis was countering The Australian’s columnist and Sky News host Peta Credlin, a critic of the voice to parliament, who said Mr Albanese wanted to pretend the longer version of the statement “doesn’t exist or has no status”.
Mr Albanese, who tabled various fact checks about claims on the length and substance of the Uluru Statement in parliament, dismissed the idea his government was trying to cover up a longer version.
“This is absolute conspiracy and nonsense that shows that they’ve become a fringe political party. They are making One Nation look like a mainstream political party with this nonsense,” he said.
“(Former Referendum Council co-chair) Mark Leibler made it clear last night that, again, ‘I was at Uluru for the national convention and witnessed the adoption of the statement – it was one page’.”
Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price received a letter on Wednesday from National Indigenous Australians Agency chief executive Jody Broun, saying the statement was one page.
“The Uluru Statement from the Heart is one page, signed by the delegates at the National Convention in 2017,” Ms Broun wrote.
“The authors of the Uluru Statement from the Heart have confirmed this.”
In a letter responding to Ms Broun, Senator Nampijinpa Price said the claims were at odds with previous advice provided to her by the agency’s Freedom of Information team.
Senator Nampijinpa Price said the NIAA’s FOI team had in July confirmed to her office that “Document 14” in the FOI release – which is 26 pages long – was the Uluru statement and that email confirmation would be forthcoming later in the day. That email was never delivered.
“I note the escalation of this issue from the FOI team to the CEO of the NIAA likewise raises questions,” Senator Nampijinpa Price wrote.
“One very serious question raised is what political pressure has been applied to the NIAA that led to this change in position? Australians deserve transparency and accountability. My colleagues and I look forward to pursuing this matter vigorously in Senate estimates.”
Senator Nampijinpa Price said that previous NIAA advice regarding the “long” Uluru Statement was at odds with comments made by Professor Davis.
“On multiple occasions, Professor Davis has referred to a longer version of the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” she wrote. “I’m sure you will appreciate these conflicting accounts raise serious questions and concerns.”
The Referendum Council’s 2017 final report includes extracts from what it says is the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Those extracts include quotes that are identical to those in the 26-page document referred to by the Coalition and released by the NIAA under Freedom of Information.
The extracts include statements such as the invasion that started at Botany Bay is the origin of the fundamental grievance between the old and new Australians; that treaty or agreement-making through Makarrata is the culmination of Indigenous Australia’s agenda; and that the Tasmanian genocide and the Black War waged by the colonists reveals the truth about the evil time of the frontier wars.
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