Anthony Albanese has begun one of his final election pitches by delivering an Acknowledgement of Country before his National Press Club of Australia address.

‘I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we’re meeting and I pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging,’ Mr Albanese said on Wednesday. 

His acknowledgement to traditional owners of the land comes as a debate erupts over the practice, days after Bunurong-Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was booed and jeered on Anzac Day while performing a Welcome To Country.

 A Welcome to Country is a traditional ceremony performed by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander elders to formally welcome visitors to their land and to give their blessing for events taking place on their traditional lands

Meanwhile an An Acknowledgement of Country is a statement of respect for the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land where an event or meeting is taking place. 

While the small ceremonies are intended to be friendly and inclusive, it has proved divisive, with some claiming it is a token gesture and a symbol of woke culture.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price previously said Australia was ‘saturated’ with it, which was ‘removing the sacredness of certain traditional culture and practices’.

‘It’s just become almost like a throwaway line. We don’t want to see all these symbolic gestures. We want to see real action,’ she said.

Mr Albanese’s Acknowledgement of Country comes just hours after Penny Wong sparked a political firestorm three days before the federal election by predicting that the Voice – a separate indigenous body with powers to influence government legislation – will eventually be introduced.

‘We’ll look back on it in ten years’ time and it’ll be a bit like marriage equality,’ Senator Wong told the Betoota Talks podcast. 

‘I always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done, and I thought, all this fuss… 

Anthony Albanese has begun one of his final election pitches by delivering an Acknowledgement of Country

Anthony Albanese has begun one of his final election pitches by delivering an Acknowledgement of Country

The Foreign Minister sparked a political firestorm three days before the federal election by predicting that the Voice ¿ a separate indigenous body with powers to influence government legislation - will eventually be introduced. Senator Wong (pictured) has now walked back her comments

The Foreign Minister sparked a political firestorm three days before the federal election by predicting that the Voice – a separate indigenous body with powers to influence government legislation – will eventually be introduced. Senator Wong (pictured) has now walked back her comments

‘It’ll become something, it’ll be like, people go “did we even have an argument about that?” 

Her comments sent the Labor spin machine into overdrive, with a campaign spokesperson claiming that Senator Wong was ‘clearly reflecting on the heated debate on how we address reconciliation and close the gap’, rather than the Voice.

And now Senator Wong has disavowed her own comments, telling SBS ‘the Voice is gone’.

‘The prime minister has made that clear, and the Australian people have made their position clear, and we respect the result of the referendum,’ she said.

‘What I would say is, that doesn’t mean reconciliation and closing the gap stops, and we need to keep together, progressing those.’

Mr Albanese has repeatedly said there will be no second referendum, after Australians voted 60 per cent to 40 per cent in 2023 against the creation of a Voice.

Asked by Channel Seven’s Political Editor Mark Riley during Sunday night’s leaders’ debate whether he still believed in the Voice, Mr Albanese responded: ‘It’s gone’.

‘I respect the outcome (of the referendum), we live in a democracy,’ he said.

Pushed on his position, he added: ‘We need to find different paths to affect reconciliation.’

The disastrous Voice campaign was a major blow for the Labor government and Albanese, who hinged his legacy on the proposal.

He went to the 2022 federal election with the referendum promise, spoke about it in his first speech as the PM and campaigned tirelessly for most of 2023, instead of focussing on the election issue that mattered to most Aussies – the cost of living.

Some 60 per cent of Australians voted No to Mr Albanese’s proposal to enshrine an Aboriginal advisory body in the constitution at a referendum in October 2023. All states and territories – except the ACT – rejected it in huge numbers. 

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