Anthony Albanese will refuse to cancel the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in a speech at a major Aboriginal festival today.
The Prime Minister is in remote northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory for the Garma festival, the nation’s largest Indigenous gathering.
He will defend his government’s plan to hold the vote this year in his strongest and most impassioned defence of the Voice, to be delivered at the festival on Saturday.
The Prime Minister will invoke the spirit and vision of the late Yolngu elder Yunupingu to promote the ‘coming-together of two worlds’.
He will also highlight the disadvantages Indigenous Australians face and that our country is ‘the home of the fair go’, according to a draft speech seen by The Australian.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese attended the Garma festival in remote northeast Arnhem Land where he pledged not to delay or cancel the Voice referendum
The festival, which is the nation’s largest Indigenous gathering, was instead used as a time to hail the vote’s importance – though Mr Albanese did not announce the date it would take place
The prime minister (pictured on Friday holding a spear aloft) has vowed to not delay or defer the referendum
‘We will not deny the urgency of this moment,’ Mr Albanese will say.
‘We will not kick the can down the road.’
He is yet to nominate a date but has refused to delay or defer the referendum.
Mr Albanese will add that there is ‘nothing to fear, and so much to gain’ from voting Yes and the result will see a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity for real, overdue and much-needed change’.
On the other hand, he fears a No result will be an acceptance of entrenched Aboriginal disadvantage that would guarantee ‘more of the same’.
It would also mean ‘rejecting the form of recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have requested’.
‘An eight-year gap in life expectancy in the home of the fair go,’ Mr Albanese will say.
‘A suicide rate twice as high, in the lucky country. Shocking rates of disease, in a nation with some of the world’s best healthcare. Only four out of 19 Closing the Gap targets on track.
‘Surely no leader can honestly say this is good enough. Surely no leader can imagine that change is not desperately and urgently needed.’
Red Flag dancers perform the Bungul dance during Garma Festival
Cedric Marika leads the Gumatj dancers at the massive Indigenous festival
Mr Albanese is determined to keep pushing for the Voice, despite dwindling public support for the Yes vote, according to the latest polls.
‘We will not abandon substance for symbolism or retreat to platitudes at the express of progress,’ he says.
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been clear. The form of constitutional recognition they are seeking is a voice.
‘Not our sympathy, not a symbol – a vehicle for progress, a practical tool to make their children’s lives better.’
‘The No campaign are desperate to talk about anything but the actual question before the Australian people,’ the Prime Minister says. ‘Because even they understand more of the same is not just unacceptable, it is indefensible.
‘We can bring our two worlds together. With our hearts and with our heads … the power to reach for a better Australia is in our hands.’
Mr Albanese will add that the Voice to parliament would also benefit the Garma festival which ‘ would no longer be confined to ‘this one part of Australia and one group of Australians for four days a year’.
‘It is shared with our nation, to serve our whole nation,’ the Prime Minister says.
‘To ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people everywhere have the opportunity of a better life.
‘So instead of the inspiring success stories we see around us being shining exceptions, like stars in the night sky, there can be a new day.’
The prime minister confirmed on Friday he would not use the event to announce the referendum date.
A Red Flag Dancer performs in front of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
In a draft of Mr Albanese’s Saturday speech obtained by the Australian, he intends to reiterate that change is needed and now is the time to introduce it
He said the festival was an opportunity to discuss the benefits of the voice for Indigenous people.
‘Historically in Australia, we don’t have 10-week or 12-week referendum campaigns,’ Mr Albanese told reporters.
‘There hasn’t been a referendum held this century, which is why I don’t think people want a date announced many months in advance, and then a long day-to-day campaign.’
The referendum to enshrine the voice in the constitution will be held between October and December.
The prime minister was later handed a ceremonial spear, which he held up in front of the crowd as they were urged to ‘say yes’ to the voice.
Mr Albanese told reporters he would be speaking with attendees at Garma about their views on a potential referendum date.
He said while the debate surrounding the voice could be viewed as divisive among Indigenous Australians, it was needed to achieve the constitutional change.
‘This is something that is for First Nations people, but it is more than that – it is something for all of us to be lifted up.’
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said that he would not be attending the festival, and instead opted to privately visit the people Arnhem Land
Opposition leader Peter Dutton won’t be attending the festival, but senior Liberal Angus Taylor said the opposition leader had already visited Arnhem Land and Alice Springs twice, as well as a number of other communities.
‘This is where you find out what’s really going on on the ground – in and amongst those communities,’ Mr Taylor said.
‘I don’t think a festival is the time to see the real issues playing out.’
Although it is an important occasion, Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley agreed that addressing the issue took more than one festival.
‘Reconciliation and indigenous policy is about more than one festival and one day,’ she said.
Recent polling for the Voice shows that support for the referendum has dropped in recent months, but Mr Albanese said that the trend did not worry him.
‘We will not abandon substance for symbolism or retreat to platitudes at the express of progress,’ he said.
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been clear. The form of constitutional recognition they are seeking is a voice.’
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