Television interview – Weekend Today
CLINT STANAWAY, HOST: The Prime Minister joins us from the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land. Good morning to you, PM. Thanks for joining us. What message do you hope to bring to Australians this weekend?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: That we have an opportunity to do something very good for the country. Indigenous Australians have asked for recognition and they’ve asked for it in the form of a Voice to Parliament. And there will be a referendum in the last quarter of this year. This is an opportunity to do to do two simple things. One, to recognise Indigenous Australians. But secondly, to listen to them in order to achieve better results. That’s the beauty of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It is a wonderful piece of writing when the community came together in 2017 to make this generous and gracious request to walk together towards reconciliation. But it also provides us with a path of how to get there as well. We know in life, our own experience tells you that if you’re going to make a decision that has an impact on someone else, listen to them, ask them what their views are. That simply is what a Voice is – an advisory body to government and Parliament in order to achieve better results. Because we know that the programs that have really worked, whether it be community health, Indigenous rangers, whether it be justice re-investment programs, the programs that have made a positive difference are ones that have come from Indigenous Australians.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI, HOST: It’s been a year since you announced the wording for the Constitution. When is the date set for the referendum? Is it going to be October 14?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it will be some time after the grand finals are held at the end of September. I’ll be announcing that in coming weeks what the date is, continuing to consult with people and continuing to make sure, with the Australian Electoral Commission, that processes can be in place and that it doesn’t clash with other major events. But I said a year ago, I set out a timetable. And we’ve fulfilled that timetable by having the legislation passed in June, after a parliamentary committee looked at the detail of the wording. So, there were some revisions to the wording that I proposed the draft at Garma last year. But it will be held in the last quarter of this year.
STANAWAY: Prime Minister, I know this has become a deeply personal, a deeply emotional campaign for you. People sitting at home right now who’ve seen this slogan, ‘If you don’t know, vote No’, why should they be ignoring that?
PRIME MINISTER: Because if you vote No, you’ll get more of the same. And we know that there is currently an eight year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I think Australians will ask themselves, how would I feel if it was the case that if I had a daughter in childbirth, she was more likely to have issues if she was Indigenous than if she was non-Indigenous. If I had a son, a teenage son, he is more likely to go to jail than to go to university. These are the sort of issues that we need to deal with. Here at Garma, with the community of the Yolngu people, we see how programs can work with that Indigenous empowerment. We are seeing better education outcomes, we see children going to school and staying at school and getting qualifications. We’re seeing better health outcomes. We’re seeing better housing outcomes in this local community as well. We’re seeing through, for example, the bilingual school here, young Indigenous kids being taught in two languages. What we need to do for Indigenous communities in areas like this is to walk in two worlds. But we can strengthen both of us. This is something we can do out of respect for Indigenous Australians. But it’s something that will lift all Australians up as well when we’re getting better outcomes, when we’re not having these big gaps.
AZZOPARDI: I don’t think there’s any argument that we need these better outcomes. But people are concerned about why they need to change the Constitution to get those outcomes. The polls are showing that support for the Voice are sliding. What do you plan to do differently from here on to make sure people do come to see your side of things?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe very firmly that when people focus on what the question is that’s before the Australian people, which is a simple one, every founding document of every former colony in the world recognises their First Peoples except one – Australia. New Zealand did it in the 19th century. Canada did it in the 20th century. Sweden and the Scandinavian countries did it a long time ago. When we look at all of the former colonies, there’s only one that stands out as not giving acknowledgement to First Peoples. And that is all it does, is recognise Indigenous Australians in our nation’s founding document. This place wasn’t empty in 1788. That’s simply what constitutional recognition does. But it does it in a form that says there should be an advisory body on matters that affect Indigenous Australians. That advisory body won’t have funding responsibilities, won’t have funding responsibilities, won’t run programs, and won’t have a right of veto. It will simply have a Voice. And then it will be up to government or Parliament to listen to that voice. But we know that when we listen to people about matters that directly affect them you lead to getting better results.
STANAWAY: Prime Minister, can we ask you very quickly in other news, further signs this icy relationship with China is starting to thaw, Beijing dropping tariffs against Aussie barley today. What does this mean for Aussie barley farmers?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a very good outcome. It is something my Government has worked very strongly on. It is an issue I raised with President Xi of removing trade impediments. One in four Australian jobs depends upon trade. And that’s why trade is good. Not just for Australia, but it’s pretty good for China too, to get our wonderful barley. It’s the best quality in the world. And they get to make better beer with our barley and better other products as well.
STANAWAY: It’s a great beer.
PRIME MINISTER: Guess what? Our wine’s pretty good too. So, we want all of that trade opened up.
AZZOPARDI: We sure do. PM, we’re just running out of time. Can the Matildas do it on Monday night?
PRIME MINISTER: They sure can. It was wonderful watching the last game. They’re into the round of 16 versus Denmark. And I really hope that they bring it home. And then get into the quarters and see where they go from there.
AZZOPARDI: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Arnhem Land, enjoy the Garma Festival today. Enjoy your time.