Doorstop Interview – Wild Life Sydney Zoo, Sydney
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for joining us. What a great way to start the day. It is an absolute pleasure to be here with our Federal Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the newly sworn-in Environment Minister for New South Wales, Penny Sharpe. So congratulations to Penny on her appointment as part of the Minns Labor Government. We’ve just met a couple of very cute little bilbies, Opal and Ballara. And these beautiful animals are Australia’s answer to the Easter Bunny. So it’s a good time to make the announcement that we’re making here today. Unfortunately, over the years, bilby populations have shrunk considerably, from covering two-thirds of the country to now covering just 15 per cent. But we have a very special Easter message here today, a new plan to help protect the bilby. We’ll be working with environment ministers from all states and the Northern Territory as well, to make this plan a reality. We’ve committed $5 million to programs to help protect the bilby, including from predators and from fire. I’ll hand over to Tanya, who’ll talk us through the details of today’s announcement. And then Penny will make some comments on behalf of the New South Wales Government, and then we’re happy to take questions.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, FEDERAL MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Thanks so much, Prime Minister. It is wonderful to be here with you and with the New South Wales Environment Minister to talk about the greater bilby. The greater bilby is a creature that used to roam most of Australia and now only survives in pockets here and there in the Central Desert, Northern Territory, part of Queensland and Western Australia. And it’s gone from a population of millions to a population of just a few thousand in the wild, it’s listed as vulnerable. Coming up to Easter, Australia’s answer to the Easter Bunny, the greater bilby deserves greater protection. And so, as the Prime Minister said, we’re announcing a recovery plan for the greater bilby. This is a plan signed on to by all the states and territory where the bilby still roams. And it’s designed to guide how we restore the bilby population across mainland Australia. We’d like to see bilbies roaming in the wild again. That means we need to take greater care of the wild populations that still exist. It means we need to invest in fenced areas where we remove cats and foxes, the greatest threats to the bilbies. It means we need to invest in the science that would support the recovery efforts for the bilby. And it means, very particularly, we need to work with First Nations custodians, Indigenous rangers and Indigenous landholders. Because most of the surviving bilby populations are in Indigenous protected areas and other land managed by First Nations Australians. Indigenous rangers have played a big role in writing this recovery plan and will play a big role in the recovery of the species. The bilby is a super cute creature, soft, silky fur, big pink ears. In the lead up to Easter. If you can choose between an Easter bunny and an Easter bilby, make sure you choose the Easter bilby. And I know the Prime Minister is normally all for the bunnies, but in this instance, he’s backing the bilby.
PENNY SHARPE, NSW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Thank you very much. I’m so thrilled to be here. One of the first pieces of paper that I got to sign as the incoming Environment Minister was to jointly sign onto the recovery plan for the bilby. In New South Wales, bilbies are considered extinct. What we saw before with little Opal and Ballara, you can only see in places like this zoo. That’s not what we want for them. We want people to come and love them and to see their little fluffy ears and to really enjoy them and to understand them. But we want them roaming free in the way that they always have and there’s been really good work done over a period of time to get those fences in place to really have high aspirations that, yes, we’ll have bilbies, not just here, but in the wild where they’re supposed to be. So I’m just very grateful to be here with the PM and with the Federal Minister, obviously extremely excited to be starting work as the new Environment Minister in New South Wales. And what better way to do it than to meet some bilbies and really try to turn around and save them into the future.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Penny. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the Voice are you open to change your proposal for the sake of getting bipartisan support?
PRIME MINISTER: I think anyone who has a look and works out what it is that Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley were saying yesterday will see that there’s not goodwill from the Liberal Party. They have chosen this particular road, and I think it’s a low road that they have chosen. In the language that was used by Peter Dutton yesterday, it’s consistent with the undermining of constitutional recognition that he has undertaken since the day that he became Leader of the Liberal Party. And I think it was a sad day yesterday, because this is an issue that should be above politics. But as Noel Pearson said this morning, Peter Dutton is acting like the undertaker preparing the grave to bury Uluru. Uluru is a generous statement, it’s an invitation for all Australians to walk with First Australians to advance reconciliation. It’s a generous and gracious offer and in a week in which we have mourned the passing of the great Indigenous leader, Yolgnu man Yunupingu, it is unfortunate that the legacy that he wanted, and I spoke to him before he passed, he watched the press conference that I held with Indigenous leaders in Canberra, announcing the legislation going forward, and in that, he said that he welcomed it and he said that I had spoken the truth when I said the government was committed to advancing this. Let’s be very clear. I gave a speech at Garma last July. In between July and April, there hasn’t been a suggested word change from any member of the Liberal Party, any member of the National Party. I had seven meetings with Peter Dutton, Peter Dutton spoke to the Referendum Working Group twice, and on none of those occasions did he take the opportunity to say ‘these are the words that should be changed’. Indeed, Peter Dutton said that he would make an announcement after the Committee that’s been established to consider that legislation reported, in six weeks’ time. But we had a by-election in Aston on Saturday, and yesterday’s hasty bringing together of their Caucus was, as Peter Dutton himself said on Saturday night, in a moment of honesty, everything that is driving his key performance indicator is just one, holding the Liberal Party together. Well I think that Peter Dutton underestimates the goodwill and the generosity of so many Liberal and National Party voters who will, along with some of their Members such as Bridget Archer and others, who will support a Voice and support constitutional recognition.
JOURNALIST: Is the success of the Voice now a test of the leadership of both major parties?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the important thing is here, and I noted, Sussan Ley in her introductory comments yesterday mentioned me more than 10 times, and Peter Dutton spoke about me. It’s not about politicians. It’s not about me and it’s not about Peter Dutton. It’s about whether we recognise Indigenous Australians in our Constitution and about whether we listen to them. That is what this is about. Whether they should be consulted, whether we’ll get better outcomes when we consult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That is what this is about. It is not about trying to position himself, which he is, in some of the commentary which is there, I read today from some of the cheer squad for a No vote saying, ‘oh well, this is about securing Peter Dutton’s leadership’. Well, this isn’t leadership. This is an abrogation of leadership. Peter Dutton was part of a government for almost a decade, almost a decade, that could have at any of those points in time, responded, legislated issues that they’re now talking about. Yesterday’s position was confused. It said we support constitutional recognition but not now. We support voices, but not a national Voice. We’re going to have these local voices but they’re not going to have any possibility of bringing it together. And the disingenuous nature of this response is summed up by talking about a Canberra voice. This is anything but. This is an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a voice to Canberra. This is about doing things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, not to them and not for them, because we know that hasn’t worked for 120 years. So I’m still very optimistic that the Australian people, who we will give the opportunity to, to vote between October and December this year, this is about them. Peter Dutton will have one vote. I will have one vote. But so will every Australian. And this is about whether we as a country can be optimistic, can be enlarged, can come to terms with the fullness and richness of our history, can express our pride in sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, or whether we shrink in on ourselves. This is a divisive position that Peter Dutton has taken. This is opportunistic. They have opposed just about every piece of legislation that’s been before the Parliament and now they’re shrinking further into negativity with their opposition to what is a gracious and generous offer.
JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton has hit back at your comments that he’s failed to properly engage with the negotiations on the Voice, arguing you’d effectively had your mind made up on the wording and model to take to the people. What’s your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he says both things. Yesterday he says that we’ve changed the words, but then he says we had our mind made up. He also is just not honest. The fact is, the Attorney-General has made it very clear that he supports the wording going forward, but they tried to verbal both the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General. We have had a draft wording in Garma that was only changed once, unlike what they say, which is again just not true, it was changed once on the basis of the advice that we received from the three working groups that were established. All of, if you look at the comments of Justice French, the former Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice Hayne, Anne Twomey, all of the legal advice that we received but also the work that we did with the Referendum Working Group to make sure that there were slight changes to the words to make it even clearer the primacy of the Parliament. That is what is before the legislation that was introduced by the Attorney-General, and if you look also at the Attorney-General’s second reading speech and the explanatory memorandum, the details are all out there. And the Opposition, it seems, are trying to say oh, well we’re not open to dialogue. They’ve made their position clear. The National Party made their position clear last year, straightaway, without bothering to even pretend to look at the detail. You’ve had this pretence from Peter Dutton and then a pre-emptive announcement yesterday, because of the Aston by-election outcome, driven by the internal politics of the Liberal Party. Australia deserves better than that. This is an issue that has been around for a long period of time. John Howard when he was Prime Minister, going back to last century, talked about constitutional recognition. There have been more than ten inquiries, including inquiries established by the former Coalition Government in which Peter Dutton was a senior minister. You had the Joint Parliament Inquiry by Pat Dodson and Julian Leeser. You had the words put forward by Julian Leeser way back in 2014 that included ‘a representative body to Parliament and the executive government’, were in words put forward and advanced by Julian Leeser in 2014. This is not the Government’s proposal. This isn’t something that was done by me and Tanya and Mark sitting around a Cabinet table. This has developed over more than a decade. The Uluru Statement from the Heart was the product of five years of consultation, including a constitutional convention of First Nations people. For him to say that this is about a Canberra voice, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the clue is in the word Uluru. People gathered from all around Australia in the heart of Australia, Indigenous Australians to ask for, as the Uluru Statement from the Heart says, ‘in 1967, we were counted. In 2017, we seek to be heard.’ That is what this is about. And Australians will, I believe, come together and build a better future. Peter Dutton has turned up with a sledgehammer. Because that’s all he has in his toolkit.
JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton says he’ll be actively campaigning for the No camp, how active will you be in the Yes camp?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there you have the contradiction in the last two questions. The question before this was, quite rightly about, ‘well will you be flexible’ and then the next question is, ‘Peter Dutton has said actively that he is going to campaign no’. That shows just exactly what they’re about. This pretence of ‘oh yes, we’re up for discussion,’ whereas everyone knows that from day one, Peter Dutton, the person who walked out on the Apology to Stolen Generations, who threatened to resign from the frontbench because Brendan Nelson was showing leadership in supporting the Apology to the Stolen Generations, is now walking away from his responsibility. So I will be supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in campaigning for a Yes vote. There is no one in our caucus who questions whether it is the right thing to do. Just as in 1967, people rose to the occasion. This is an opportunity for Australia. This can still be a moment of unity for Australia. If you look at the support that constitutional recognition has, from the business community, from sporting organisations, from faith groups, from non-government organisations, from the trade union movement, from people of goodwill. I am very hopeful and indeed optimistic that the Australian people will seize this opportunity to not just show respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but feel better as well about ourselves, knowing that we can make practical improvements. This won’t make an enormous difference to most Australians who are non-Indigenous. It will not change their lives. But it might just make the lives of some of the most disadvantaged Australians better. We have a ten year gap in life expectancy, gaps in education and health and housing and infant mortality. We have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and we need to acknowledge that with the best of intentions and goodwill, what we have done up to now is not working. We need to consult on matters that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We know from programs like Indigenous rangers that are working to help the bilby, that when we consult Indigenous people, when they’re involved in the programs, whether it be Indigenous rangers, justice reinvestment, community health programs, you get better outcomes. So I am very, very optimistic. I was at an event last night with Imams from all around Australia at Iftar, who expressed their very strong support going forward. All of the religious organisations that I have spoken to have welcomed constitutional recognition and the opportunity that this has to find a better path.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Liberals say they would support constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians but they don’t want the Voice in the Constitution. Why can’t these be done separately?
PRIME MINISTER: They say that, but the previous comment that Peter Dutton would be out there actively campaigning No, belies the problem with that statement, the contradictions which are there. Indigenous Australians were asked, and this occurred not under the Labor Government, this occurred under the Coalition Government. People came together at Uluru, and that was six years ago, and asked for constitutional recognition and the form of it is through a Voice. They want to be recognised in the Constitution, but they also want to be consulted on matters that affect them. And that is what Indigenous Australians have chosen. And I note that Peter Dutton yesterday, when asked at the press conference who is supporting your proposition, didn’t name anyone. It was Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley who went from a position last week, prior to the Aston by-election of saying that they would make a decision after the Committee that’s been established, the Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine the legislation in six weeks’ time. In between then and Monday, they declared an emergency meeting of their caucus to deal with this issue to have a ‘look over there’ moment. They didn’t consult with anyone. When I stood up with Linda Burney and Patrick Dodson and Mark Dreyfus, we also stood with Marcia Langton and with Thomas Mayor and with a host of Indigenous leaders who we have worked with in the Referendum Working Group, who all expressed their view after Peter Dutton went and spoke to them on two occasions, that they were going to arrive at this position, that Peter Dutton was always going to say no. He is defined by what he’s against, not what he’s for. He has not learned or heard any of the messages that were given in May last year or in Aston on Saturday. He’s determined to just be negative.
JOURNALIST: Just for Tanya if that’s alright. Do you think that your government could have presented the Voice to Parliament proposal differently at all, so that the Opposition wouldn’t have?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: That’s actually not a question for me, sorry.
JOURNALIST: We’d be keen to get your thoughts on whether you think that it could have been packaged up differently at all?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Happy to do that another time.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how hard will you be willing to lobby some Liberals who seem prepared to cross the floor and support the Voice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this isn’t a matter of crossing the floor. This is a matter of every Australian will go into a ballot box and will have the opportunity to say yes to reconciliation. Yes to constitutional recognition. Yes to a Voice to our Parliament, and yes to being prepared to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on matters that affect them. This will be up to the Australian people. That is the way that the Constitution is structured. The problem with Peter Dutton is that he’s scared of the present Australia, but he is terrified of the future. And with this decision yesterday, Peter Dutton has turned his back to the future. He’s not prepared to go forward and it is unfortunate. I think it was a sad day yesterday. I hoped for bipartisanship, but there are many people of goodwill in the Liberal Party and the National Party, whether they be caucus members but certainly members of the party, and I know they’ve been speaking to me about it. And I note this, the New South Wales Coalition here, Liberals and Nationals, support constitutional recognition. And Dominic Perrottet, I pay tribute to him and his leadership, for his support for constitutional recognition. I pay tribute to Jeremy Rockliff, the Premier of Tasmania. In a couple of weeks’ time, Pat Farmer, a former Liberal Member of Parliament, Member for Macarthur, will be beginning his run for the Yes in the referendum, in Hobart, in Tasmania. Pat Farmer is going to run 80 kilometres a day, every day for months. He is a strong advocate of the Voice as are so many people who vote Liberal or vote National, and I say to people that this is an opportunity. And if not now, when? For all of the comments that Peter Dutton and others make, they have been in government for almost a decade. They could have introduced legislation. They could have had a referendum. They could have had a process. They chose not to and does anyone think, just like the republic referendum asked people to think about this way back last century, the last time a referendum was held, there were a lot of people who said ‘oh yes, I support a republic but not this one. We’ll have another vote crack in a couple of years.’ That was before any of you journalists who were here got to vote in that referendum, I guarantee. Before you ever got to vote. This will be the first time you ever get to vote. If you’re under the age of 40 in this country you have never voted in a referendum. Because once an opportunity moves past, you don’t know when it’s coming around again. We have waited 122 years to recognise in our Constitution the privilege that we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth. I say to Australians, do not miss this opportunity.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, for Easter, what are your plans?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m actually going on leave on Saturday. I have not had any leave this year so I will be on leave for one week. Richard Marles and Penny Wong will be acting during that period and I’ll look forward to having some time off and I look forward to also not holding press conferences and having a bit of a rest. I will be in Australia but I’d ask that my privacy be respected. Thank you very much.