Radio interview – Triple M Hobart
ANDY TAYLOR, HOST: Prime Minister, good morning and thanks for your time.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, great to be with you again.
TAYLOR: It is great to have you. You launched in South Australia and you’re heading to Tasmania today. As I said two states that are key that surveys are showing look likely to vote No in this referendum. Why do you think Tasmanians aren’t sold on the Voice to Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m convinced that Tasmanians will vote Yes. And I’ll be with the Premier Jeremy Rockliff this morning and then with Bridget Archer in Launceston this afternoon. Both of them being strong Yes supporters. And I’m convinced that when Australians have a look at the very clear question being asked, Australians are generous people, and they will vote for recognition, for listening to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them in order to get better results.
PHIL BRADY, HOST: Prime Minister, the Yes campaign by its own admission, says twenty per cent of First Nations peoples don’t support the Yes campaign. Are you concerned that those that you say will directly benefit from the Voice to Parliament could actually vote No?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not at all. It is no different from expecting in that any other group would be homogenous. There are differences there, but overwhelmingly more than four in every five Indigenous Australians are very passionate about supporting Yes. And everywhere I’ve been, whether it is in the Northern Territory, in remote communities or in urban communities, there’s strong support from Indigenous leaders and Indigenous communities for a Yes vote.
TAYLOR: David on our text line asks, Prime Minister there was a Freedom of Information release regarding the Voice which mentioned reparations or compensation as a percentage of our gross domestic product. Is this true?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
TAYLOR: Simple as that?
PRIME MINISTER: No, just absolute nonsense. This is a very simple proposition being put forward. And before the apology to the Stolen Generations, remember, there were a whole range of scare campaigns. Before Mabo people were going to lose their backyards, none of that eventuated. There’s nothing to fear here, nothing to lose, just everything to gain. All this will be is recognising First Nations people in our Constitution, and then an advisory group made up of Indigenous Australians, elected by Indigenous Australians to give advice about matters directly affecting Indigenous Australians. It won’t have a right of veto, it’s not a funding body, it’s just a body that will give advice. Because we know that when we listen to the people directly affected, then you’ll get better outcomes. And we know that from experience with community health programs, Indigenous Rangers programs – when Indigenous people are directly involved and engaged and have agency you get better outcomes.
BRADY: I wanted to ask you about the National Indigenous Australians Agency because they support the Minister for Indigenous Australians. What could the Voice to Parliament achieve that they can’t achieve?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s a department. That’s no different from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet providing advice to me or the Treasury Department providing advice to the Treasurer, based in Canberra. But that’s not a body that’s representative of Indigenous Australians. That’s basically the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, that its role is to roll out the programs that are there, programs like ABSTUDY and Social Security programs, health programs that are involved in Indigenous Affairs. This is something very different. This is an advisory group to government that would provide that advice directly to the Minister, to the Parliament and to the government. Something that wouldn’t run programs, which is the job of that agency.
BRADY: So if the Yes vote got up, how long before you see it all rolling out? How long before that committee would form?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the committee would be the subject of legislation and interestingly here both sides say they support legislation for a Voice. So if the Voice is such a problem, I think that position of the No campaign is undermined by the fact that they say, Peter Dutton says he would have a legislated Voice as well, as do the members of the National Party like Barnaby Joyce. So there would be legislation, we will seek a consensus about that. This is all about an opportunity. We’re the only colony or former colony on earth that does not recognise our first peoples in our founding document, and this is an opportunity to do that after 122 years. And this is about instead of there being a voice from Canberra, which is what you have had, this will be a Voice to Canberra. And that’s why it is so important to give respect to Indigenous Australians, but also, to lift up the whole country. This should be a moment of national unity, and of bringing people together. And a Yes vote will be like the apology, people will look back and wonder why it wasn’t done earlier, why these fear campaigns were being run, which had no basis.
BRADY: You mentioned about the bipartisan support, it’s not there for this particular vote. Previous referendums that have been held that don’t have bipartisan support very rarely get up. If it doesn’t get up, what’s next?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’ll be more of the same, and that’s why we need a Yes vote in this referendum. We can’t say that the status quo, which will apply, is good enough. We have an eight year life expectancy gap, we have young Indigenous males that are more likely to go to jail than to go to university. We have the Closing the Gap targets, only four of them out of nineteen are being met. We need to do better. And a vote for Yes is an opportunity for us to do better as a nation.
TAYLOR: My advice to all of our listeners is head along to Voice.gov.au, educate yourself, make your own mind up based on the quality information that is available on that website – Voice.gov.au. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese –
PRIME MINISTER: That’s good advice.
TAYLOR: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: And I would say as well to just read the question. It’s very clear the question and the constitutional change itself. It is very clear, unequivocal, just says in the first line is the recognition – In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s First Peoples, and then it says there shall be a body, the Voice. The second clause is it will give advice on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. And the third is that the Parliament will determine the structure, composition, etc, which is important and as well. This isn’t overturning any of the systems of government that we have. And I think if people have a read of that, they’ll say, overwhelmingly I think, that that’s fair enough that we do need to do things better.
TAYLOR: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese thank you so much for your time on Triple M.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, have a great day.