Jacinta Price proposes Indigenous voice to parliament debate with Linda Burney

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she wants to debate Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on the voice.

Linda Burney and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she wants to debate Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on the voice.

Senator Price on Tuesday reiterated the key messages in the No pamphlet she helped write, saying she would be very happy to debate Ms Burney. The pamphlet Senator Price oversaw is the work of federal MPs who oppose a constitutionally enshrined voice and it will be delivered to every household in Australia.

MPs who support the voice wrote the Yes pamphlet, also to be delivered by the Australian Electoral Commission. Both sides were limited to 2000 words under referendum legislation.

The Yes pamphlet describes the voice as a form of recognition that is about “listening to advice from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about matters that affect their lives, so governments make better decisions”.

The No pamphlet describes the proposition as risky, unknown, divisive and permanent.

On Tuesday, Indigenous members of the Uluru Dialogue said the No pamphlet was “a recipe for more of the same”.

“Sadly, the No Pamphlet trots out the same tired and misleading arguments of a campaign determined to maintain a failed status quo that has always sold Australians short,” the Uluru Dialogue said.

“The No case is a case for reliance on Canberra. It is about no ideas, no solutions, no hope, no courage, no heart.”

Asked if Ms Burney would consider debating Senator Price or planned to participate in any debate on the voice, a spokesperson for the minister said she “is focused on getting out and having conversations with people across the country about why the voice is needed and how it will help improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.

“Last week she was in Launceston, Albany, Port Hedland, Kununurra and Broome. Next week she’ll be in Wodonga and Adelaide,” the spokesperson said.

As the No campaign highlights the views of Indigenous people who oppose the voice, the Yes campaign is working to demonstrate the voice is not a Canberra idea but emerged from years of conversations among Indigenous Australians about how they wished to be recognised in the Constitution.

The Yes case’s clearest evidence of Indigenous support for the voice is a poll conducted in April that found 83 per cent would vote for it to be enshrined in the Constitution. The poll recorded the views of 732 Indigenous Australians in 151 electorates in urban, regional and remote areas. It was conducted by YouGov, a member of the Australian Polling Council.

Anthony Albanese on Tuesday stressed the poor health outcomes of Indigenous people documented in the Yes pamphlet.

“We’ve been doing things to and for – often with the best intentions – Indigenous Australians for 122 years since Federation,” Mr Albanese said.

“We have an eight-year life expectancy gap. If you’re a young Indigenous male, you are more likely to go to jail than to go to university. We have worse infant mortality rates. We have worse health outcomes. We have worse housing outcomes. Four out of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are currently being met.

“We need to do better. If Australia votes No, that is saying that we’ll keep doing things the same way. If you keep doing things the same way, you should expect the same results.”