Don’t miss opportunity for reconciliation, PM says

Maeve Bannister and Tess Ikonomou | April 6, 2023

Anthony Albanese remains optimistic Australians will see through the Liberal Party’s “disingenuous” opposition to an Indigenous voice. 

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton confirmed the Liberals would back constitutional recognition for Indigenous people but not support a voice to parliament and executive government. 

However the prime minister said his counterpart had been part of a government that had been in power for nearly a decade without advancing the issues now being called for.

“We’ve waited 122 years to recognise in our constitution the privilege we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on Earth. I say to Australians, ‘do not miss this opportunity’,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney.  

“We need to acknowledge that with the best of intentions and good will, what we have done until now is not working.

“We need to consult on matters that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”

Mr Dutton said he had approached the proposal with an open mind, and also disputed claims by Mr Albanese that he had been consulted on the terms of the voice.

“The prime minister misrepresents those meetings … I wouldn’t frame it as a genuine engagement,” he told ABC Radio.

Asked if his position could ultimately put him on the wrong side of history, Mr Dutton said he was in favour of practical outcomes for Indigenous people.

“The voice has turned into … an opportunity for there to be input into every aspect of government work,” he said.

“I don’t believe that that is going to deliver the practical outcomes to Indigenous Australians we all crave.”

But Mr Albanese said the opposition leader’s repeated referral to a “Canberra voice” demonstrated the disingenuous nature of the Liberal Party’s position.

“Peter Dutton underestimates the goodwill and the generosity of so many Liberal and National Party voters who will … support a voice and support constitutional recognition,” he said. 

“This is about whether we as a country can be optimistic … 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 Peter Dutton has taken, this is opportunistic.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Liberal MPs could not find it in their hearts to listen to First Nations people. 

“We need to be listening, not lecturing,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“It is appalling for the Liberal Party to say that this (voice) is an act of division. This is an opportunity and an obligation for national unity.”

Indigenous academic and one of the Uluru Statement’s architects Noel Pearson said it was a sad day for Australia that there would not be bipartisan support for such an important national enterprise.

“I’ve got a great belief that the Liberal Party is greatly out of step with the sentiment of the Australian people on this issue,” he told ABC Radio National.

Yet Liberal senator Simon Birmingham insisted there was still an opportunity for bipartisanship and said the party supported constitutional recognition.

“There can still be a means of salvaging something that can provide for the country a unifying, bipartisan moment,” he told ABC News.

“Something that is achieved without the type of risks or concerns to the constitution and operation of government that have increasingly been discussed through the course of this debate.”