Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett calls Voice to Parliament referendum ‘one of the most important decisions we’re all gonna make in our lifetime’

Peter Garrett has shared his frank view on the Voice to Parliament referendum. 

The Midnight Oil rocker and former politician appeared on The Project on Friday night and explained why he was voting Yes. 

‘I think it’s one of the most important decisions that we’re all gonna make in our lifetime’ the 70-year-old said. 

‘It’s not really so much the politics of it, but the national interest of it. Getting something right for a change’ he went on. 

‘Giving Indigenous Australians an opportunity to provide advice to the parliament. And it’s just an advisory body. That’s all the Voice is. 

‘I mean, there’s been a lot of white noise about it, but it’s just an advisory body. It was an idea that they brought forward – a majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – leaders, people in communities. 

‘And what we’ve been doing up to now as a country, it just hasn’t cut the mustard in terms of closing the gap of disadvantage’ Peter added. 

‘I’ll be voting Yes and encouraging fellow Australians to vote Yes as well. I think we have an opportunity to do something positive. 

‘It’s modest, but it should be a step forward.’

Garrett spent nine years in Parliament, between 2004 and 2013, as Minister for Kingsford Smith and a Labor front bencher. 

The musician served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts between 2007 and 2010, under then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

‘I think it’s one of the most important decisions that we’re all gonna make in our lifetime’ the 70-year-old said

After being re-elected in 2010, he served as Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth under Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Garrett did not contest the 2013 election, instead retiring from politics.

He is also well known as the frontman of Australian rock band Midnight Oil, of which he has been a member since 1972.  

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said the voice will be an advisory body to Parliament that will allow First Nations people to be involved in a discussion about the laws which affect them and about what is needed in their communities. 

Despite dwindling support in the polls, the campaign is still confident it can secure a win, relying on ‘soft’ No voters and Australians who are yet to engage with the debate at all.

For the referendum to be successful, the majority of Australians in the majority of states must vote Yes. 

Support for the Yes case has fallen from more than 60 per cent to 40 per cent or even below, partly on the back of comments made by those behind the Voice to Parliament and the Uluru Statement of the Heart. 

The most recent Resolve Political Monitor survey showed 43 per cent of voters supported a plan to enshrine the Voice into the Constitution, down 20 percentage points from a year ago.

‘It’s not really so much the politics of it, but the national interest of it. Getting something right for a change’ he went on