Labor in no-man’s land, not wanting to promote a treaty while also unable to say it won’t happen

Attempts to reboot the failing Yes campaign for the voice will need a herculean effort, starting with Anthony Albanese’s own confused argument.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese receives traditional gifts from a young Yolngu boy during Garma. Picture: Tamati Smith/Getty Images

Anthony Albanese has launched a media blitz to reboot the failing campaign for a voice to parliament, warning there will be no second chance for constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians if the referendum fails.

He tries to suggest there may never be a commonwealth First Nations treaty but still can’t say where the millions of dollars for a Makarrata commission has gone or will go.

Amid the glow of an uplifting Garma festival of indigenous Australians, and against the idyllic backdrop of Arnhem Land, the Prime Minister is using his “spear of strength” to simultaneously promote the indigenous voice to parliament, warn there will be no watered-down versions of recognition, and to distance himself and the commonwealth from the Uluṟu Statement commitment to a treaty.

After a parliamentary week when Albanese and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney were unable to answer basic questions, were drawn into the unpopular and the politically dangerous concept of a treaty, and were distracted from the public’s top priority of cost-of-living pressures the PM sought to recast the argument.

Albanese’s latest shift involves both threats and inducements – no constitutional recognition at all and better practical outcomes for Australia’s most disadvantaged – but, like much of his argument about the voice referendum, Albanese’s pitch is too political and glib.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton faced off against Anthony Albanese during Question Time. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

Albanese can see the damage the unanswered questions about the effect on executive government, the reach of the voice, the prospect of a treaty and financial cost of the associated bureaucracy are doing to the referendum cause and his government.

This is not to mention the mounting political damage as a result of being seen to be giving the voice priority over the economy. But he has to fight for it because he believes in it and failure will be a disaster for him and the government.

In response to Peter Dutton’s offer to support constitutional recognition for indigenous people without a constitutional voice to parliament, Albanese headed off the prospect of a second chance and basically said it is constitutional recognition with a voice or none.

It was necessary for recognition to have “substance” he said.

“That is what Indigenous Australians have said.

“That it wasn’t just a style issue of putting words in the Constitution, that it had an ongoing impact of having better outcomes. That is what it is about,” he said as he ruled out any second referendum and pointed to the failure of the republican referendum, which has not been revisited.

Albanese is seeking to suggest there will be no treaty between the commonwealth and indigenous people and that the Makarrata commission, with $26 million pledged for it, will be there to assist state government treaties.

It’s a way of having a treaty at state levels, which is already happening, without drawing federal Labor into the dangerous waters of treaty and reparation.

Of course, he can’t say there will be no treaty because he has explicitly said there would eventually be a treaty phase as a result of the referendum and it is a condition of support from so many supporting the Yes campaign.

The PM was still unable to say where almost $1m had been spent on the truth-telling and treaty commission of Makarrata. Picture: NCA Newswire / Martin Ollman

So, Labor is left in no-man’s land not wanting to promote a treaty, denigrating the No campaign for talking about it and, at the same time, unable to say it won’t happen.

For weeks Albanese has blamed some of the media for negative reporting and commentary but now the imperative for more information about the voice, and the shifting support into negative territory for the referendum, sees him facing perfectly respectful and legitimate questions from more and more outlets he has regarded as friendly.

Trapped in the bind about treaty and truth-telling Albanese was still unable to say, when he appeared on the ABC Insiders program on Sunday, where almost $1m had been spent on the truth-telling and treaty commission of Makarrata, what its role will be and where the rest of the $25m will be spent.

He’s also being asked to point out why a national voice to parliament is necessary when he is able to cite highly successful indigenous programs and communities operating now without a national voice.

Albanese insists the referendum will be successful because the public will focus during the four-week campaign, backed by tens of millions of dollars in advertising, and because there isn’t really a choice.

The Yes campaign may yet succeed but it’s falling support shows there has to be a herculean effort to turnaround the position and that Albanese will have to start with the confusion in his own stables of politics and argument.