Voice ‘first step’ to true reconciliation, says Albanese
‘We cannot go on like this. But we can go forward,’ says Anthony Albanese in calling for an enshrined voice to parliament.
Anthony Albanese will today call a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament a “bedrock” for making practical improvements to the lives of indigenous Australians a reality, as he pressures Scott Morrison to reverse his opposition to the key recommendation from the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The Opposition Leader will visit the Garma festival in the Northern Territory where he will declare that enshrining the voice in the Constitution should be the first step to “true reconciliation”.
“We cannot go on like this. But we can go forward. It is clear to me that enshrining that voice in the Constitution is what must come first,” Mr Albanese will say at the festival of indigenous groups.
“We have not yet had true reconciliation. And a country that is not truly reconciled is not truly whole. And until we are whole, we will never reach our truest potential as a nation — and we have so very much potential.
“But how can we have reconciliation when one side has no voice? The voice is the bedrock upon which we must build.”
The Prime Minister is pursuing a model for indigenous constitutional recognition, but has ruled out supporting enshrining the voice in the nation’s birth certificate.
The Labor leader will today praise former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce for apologising for referring to the voice as a “third chamber”, a description that has also been used by Mr Morrison.
“After being part of the chorus pushing the myth that a voice would amount to a third chamber in parliament, Mr Joyce did something unusual. He stopped. He listened. He asked questions from people with knowledge,” Mr Albanese said.
He will also reiterate Labor’s support for a Makarrata Commission that will oversee treaties between governments and Aboriginal groups.
“It’s not just about respect and redress. It’s about progress and change. It’s about moving out of the darkness,” Mr Albanese will say.
“We stand tantalisingly close to the cusp of something new — not the reinvention of Australia but the realisation of a greater one, a country drawing into its heart the many strands of our First Nations people in the eternal understanding that, together, we are all stronger.
“It would be the ultimate fulfilment of that most Australian of instincts: the fair go. More than anything, it would be right.”
During Labor’s caucus meeting in Canberra this week, senator Pat Dodson told MPs that Mr Morrison had “decoupled” constitutional recognition from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, declaring the government’s co-design process had “no structure for formal consultation with First Nations”.
He said it was a “very serious matter” that the recognition process was “effectively back to pre-Uluru”.
Senator Dodson, known as the father of reconciliation, said Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt had not consulted Aboriginal leaders but had a plan for “consultation with the Coalition backbench and apparently Pauline Hanson”.
“The challenge for us now is to assist the minister without walking away with all the fleas and the ticks that would undermine a principled position,” Senator Dodson said.
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