Anthony Albanese admits he’s not perfect and hits out at ‘secret’ Voice comeback

Anthony Albanese’s path to victory was thrown into chaos after his Foreign Minister Penny Wong implied the dumped Voice to parliament would in the future be considered inevitable.

Anthony Albanese’s path to victory was thrown into chaos after his Foreign Minister Penny Wong implied the dumped Voice to parliament would in the future be considered inevitable.

The last-minute resurgence of debate around the 2023 referendum came after Ms Wong compared the Voice to same-sex marriage which was initially opposed but is now law and widely accepted.

The referendum was resoundingly defeated with 60 per cent of Australians voting against it.

The comments paved the way for a day on the attack from Opposition leader Peter Dutton who accused Mr Albanese of harbouring secret plans to resurrect the Voice — claims the Prime Minister was then forced to deny in his address at the National Press Club.

“We also said we would respect the outcome, and we have,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Dutton said he believed Australians would be “scratching their heads” thinking “I thought the prime minister had heard that we said no”.

“Send him a message at this election that, no, we’re not going to support the Voice legislated by Labor and the Greens, and treaty and truth telling, because we said we expressed our view very clearly,” he said.

Ms Wong later clarified the comments by saying the Voice was “gone”, but Mr Dutton seized on the issue and urged Australians to send Labor the same message they had during the referendum by voting against them.

Australian Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Canberra Press Club in the last week of his election campaign. The Prime Minister and Penny Wong at the event. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

Coalition indigenous affairs spokesman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price also ramped up the attacks claiming Labor won’t take no for an answer on the Voice.

“Australians overwhelmingly rejected the Voice — yet Labor still won’t take no for an answer.”

Jacinta Price has said the Voice was rightly rejected. Picture: Sky News

In a podcast interview with satirical newspaper the Betoota Advocate released earlier this week, Ms Wong said the Voice proposal may in future be viewed in a similar way to the long campaign for same-sex marriage, which was legislate in 2017 after a postal plebiscite.

“I think we’ll look back on it in 10 years’ time and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality don’t you reckon?” she said.

“I always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done, and I thought, all this fuss, it’ll become something like, people go ‘Did we even have an argument about that?’”

Senator Penny Wong laughs when mentioned at the event. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

Mr Albanese said the government was now working towards “practical reconciliation” after the referendum was lost.

In the same address Mr Albanese admitted he had “regrets” about the last three years in office, but would not go into any detail.

“I don’t pretend to be perfect,” he said.

“I’m not saying that at all (that I have no regrets). I’m saying that what’s important is that you learn. You learn each and every day, and that is what I do.”

Mr Dutton campaigned in Melbourne, in the Labor-held seats of Dunkley, Chisholm and Aston — all electorates the Coalition is hoping to pick up on May 3.

The Liberals also faced drama of their own, with Neo-nazis impersonating the party at a pre-poll booth in Kew in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong.

After his speech in Canberra, Mr Albanese flew to Perth where he campaigned in the newly created seat of Bullwinkel, which is shaping up as a three-way contest between Labor, the Liberals and Nationals.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese admits he’s not perfect and hits out at ‘secret’ Voice comeback