Television interview – ABC Afternoon Briefing
GREG JENNETT, HOST: Prime Minister, we welcome the opportunity and appreciate it to talk to you at any time, but particularly on such a hectic schedule and especially from such a stunning location there at Uluru. You have in many ways, I suppose, gone back to the heart of the matter. There in 2017, the authors of the Uluru Statement, I will read it, I’m sure you are familiar with it, said, “We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country”. Why have you gone back to base camp today?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I’ve gone back because this is where also I responded and declared that we would hold a referendum in my first term if I was elected as Prime Minister of Australia. And I’m fulfilling that commitment with the vote that will take place on October 14, this Saturday. And of course, Australians are voting every day in their hundreds of thousands. Today, we will meet as well with the Central Land Council here. The Central Land Council gathered, some 90 representatives, all elected from local communities throughout this vast area of Central Australia that covers tens of thousands of kilometres, all 90 delegates all determining that they want a Yes vote, as have every other one of the land councils in the Northern Territory. Tomorrow morning, we will be greeting Pat Farmer, the former Liberal Member for Macarthur, who has made an extraordinary effort. He has been running 80 kilometres a day for months. He’s run over 14,000 kilometres around Australia. And he will arrive here in Uluru very early tomorrow morning for the sunrise. I gave a commitment when we saw him off in Hobart, when he began this journey, that I would be there at the end. And he’s made it. It just shows the commitment.
JENNETT: By any measure, Prime Minister, that is a magnificent achievement. To extend the metaphor, are you also saying that your race is run now, that you’ve done as much as you can to uphold your end of this bargain?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’re going to run all the way to Saturday. Tomorrow, I will travel to Melbourne and Victoria. Then on to Sydney, where I have an event Thursday morning. Then to Perth, then to Adelaide, then to Hobart, then to Sydney, then to a couple of regional places as well. We are going to fulfil the commitment that I gave back in March, when I said we were all in. And we are. I think it’s important. Last night, someone in Port Lincoln said to me that they had thought that they would vote No, but they’ve actually looked at what the question is. When they looked at what the question is, and it’s pretty clear, just recognition and then, there shall be a body and it may make representations on matters affecting Indigenous Australians and then thirdly, the primacy of the Parliament. Nothing to fear here. All that Indigenous Australians are asking for is to be recognised in our nation’s founding document and to have a body in which they can make representations, be listened to, on matters that affect them. It won’t have a right of veto, it doesn’t replace the Parliament or the Government. It simply is an opportunity to be heard. Because we know when we listen to people directly affected by issues, you get better outcomes.
JENNETT: The community in Mutitjulu has, of course, in decades past been beset by social and medical health problems, thankfully less so now, that ultimately led to the federal intervention, of course. Do you foresee under a Voice that if the conditions were right, be it on health or law and order, you would or could accede to a request from the Voice to martial similar federal resources for communities like that in the NT?
PRIME MINISTER: What you would do is two things. One, you have the opportunity to listen directly to those local voices would feed up through the Voice and be able to be able to be heard. Secondly as well, you will avoid some of the problems, because if you listen, part of the problem here isn’t a lack of spending, it’s a lack of efficient spending. The money is not going to the right places. Bureaucrats in Canberra will never make as good a decision as listening to people on the ground. When we listen to people on the ground, that is when you see effective programs. Indigenous Rangers programs, community health programs, education programs to get kids to school, Justice Reinvestment. They all have something in common, which is that direct input from Indigenous communities. And with that, you also get that sense of responsibility and ownership as well. And that is why Indigenous Australians are asking for this. A modest request. One that I hope that Australians agree to on Saturday.
JENNETT: A question raised today, Prime Minister, if the Voice does succeed, will the parliamentary committee that sets about its intricate design have balanced numbers that would enable the Opposition to shape its design? This is really a question, I suppose, posed by Peter Dutton himself today publicly?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve said publicly, as I told Peter Dutton way back in March, and I said publicly a number of times, not only will have it representation from across the Parliament. I want joint chairs. One from the Labor Party and someone from the Coalition to jointly chair and work together on this. Just as Julian Lesser and Pat Dodson worked on a previous joint parliamentary committee in the past. That produced a good, successful process. I’ve involved people across the spectrum in this. And Julian Leeser is campaigning very hard for a Yes vote. Of course, Ken Wyatt, who was the Coalition’s spokesperson, Minister for Indigenous Affairs, under the Morrison Government, has been out there campaigning for a Yes vote. The Morrison Government went to the election in 2019 saying they would have a referendum, they would advance these issues. And unfortunately, not enough happened. Well, six years after Uluru, 122 years after Federation, I ask this. If not now, when? When are we going to get this done? Peter Dutton is saying, of course, someone who always says no to everything, always looks for a political advantage, what he is saying is he wants people to vote No, then he wants them to vote for him and then he will have another referendum. We can get this done this week. And have a process that gets bipartisan buy-in, gets support across the Parliament.
JENNETT: That is a conversation that can begin Sunday or Monday if necessary. Can I get you to step back, a broader reflection on the conduct of the referendum campaign. Prime Minister? You spoke regularly about the pervasive misinformation and intemperate remarks that have been made throughout. Will the Government order a review of laws that govern these processes, just as you would after an election? Does it disturb you enough to warrant deeper investigation here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, JSCEM, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, will normally look at electoral processes when they occur at the federal level. That will be a matter for the committee. What I’m focused on is the outcome on Saturday, the outcome and then I will focused on getting it done, getting the Voice put in place. And it will be a very positive, uplifting moment. I see this as being just like the Apology to the Stolen Generations. There was a lot of concern, and a lot of, frankly, fake news about what the consequences of it would be. There would be all these negative consequences. None of them were realised. We know that it was an uplifting moment, particularly, I think, for young Australians at that time. Every school in the whole country stopped to hear the Apology. Brendan Nelson gave a fine speech as Liberal Leader. It is unfortunate that Peter Dutton walked out on that speech. He found the consequences that he was talking about, though, weren’t realised. He has apologised for that but then he is committing exactly the same actions in being negative, saying no on this occasion.
JENNETT: I know you will be saying much more about the Voice in coming days. I might just cover off the other dominant issue in global affairs at the moment, that’s the Middle East. Prime Minister, of course, with your travel to remote areas, I think you were a little late to be able to view some of the raw footage from the forecourt of the Opera House in Sydney last night. But you have since been able to do that. What is your stated position on the events that unfolded there? Should it have been prevented by, primarily, NSW Police?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we do have a right to demonstrate in this country, of course. But I said before hand that it shouldn’t take place, that the organisers should have not organised a demonstration at this time. That it wasn’t appropriate. I stand by those comments I made yesterday afternoon. I think the footage that I have seen, I’ve only seen a small amount of footage, but some of the commentary that was being made there is hurtful. It is anti-Semitic, some of the slogans that I heard shouting. And there’s no place for anti-Semitism in this country or, indeed, anywhere else. We need to fight racism wherever we see it, whether it’s anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, some of the racially-charged comments that have been made against Indigenous Australians during this referendum. It has no place. And I find the fact that people thought it was appropriate to chant one of the slogans that I’ve heard – I won’t even repeat on air – to be completely reprehensible.
JENNETT: Is there a heightened risk of this conflict spilling over domestically or another way of asking that question, is the terrorism threat level under review now?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we constantly engage with our security agencies. In terms of a review, it’s constantly being monitored. Certainly, we are very conscious of the potential risks which are there. And our agencies and the authorities, including the police and security agencies, are monitoring and are acting accordingly as well as consulting with the community leaders on those issues. What I want to see is the best of Australia. We’re a great multicultural success story. Just last week, I was gathered with faith leaders about the referendum question. Across the board, all supporting. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, all coming together supporting Yes in our great, multicultural society. That, to me, was a really moving moment of unity. That’s the sort of Australia that I want to see, an Australia where we’re defined by our unity, not by our divisions.
JENNETT: Looking abroad, back into the Middle East, where the war is raging as we speak, as some airlines restrict flights in and out of Israel. Does the Government have in place plans for evacuations of Australian citizens and residents if it comes to that in the next few days or week?
PRIME MINISTER: We are working on a range of contingency arrangements that I won’t detail publicly for obvious reasons. But we do work on these contingencies. It is a priority to keep Australians safe. And the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are working on a 24-hour basis to ensure that whatever support can be given is there. Australia believes in looking after our citizens. And that is just what we do.
JENNETT: That’s been activated in the past. Let’s see whether it needs to be again. Prime Minister, I know you set yourself a relentless schedule on the campaign trail for the final full four days remaining in this. But we do appreciate all the more setting aside a few minutes for us today. Thanks again.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Greg.