Labor renews commitment to Uluru Statement

Anthony Albanese, Linda Burney and Warren Snowdon address a press conference in Uluru - Tuesday, 27 April 2021

WARREN SNOWDON, MEMBER FOR LINGIARI: Here we are at the spiritual heart of the country at Uluru. Can I acknowledge the traditional owners and thank them for welcoming us onto their country. And so important it is that we're here today. And I'm here with Linda Burney, the Shadow Minister responsible for First Nations, and our Leader Anthony Albanese to make some very important commitments and statements regarding Labor's position in relation to First Nations people.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thank you very much, Warren, and I'm here today on behalf of the Australian Labor Party to reaffirm our commitment to the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full. A Voice to Parliament, enshrined in our National Constitution, a process of truth-telling through the creation of a Makarrata Commission, and treaty-making as a result of that. This is an important commitment for Labor to make. It is now, next month, four years since the Uluru Statement from the Heart. And today we sat with the Central Land Council leadership just next to where that agreement was signed at Mutitjulu here in Central Australia. And that commitment can't be allowed to just not move forward. It's absolutely critical that we have a movement forward that shows our maturity as a nation that recognises our history didn't begin in 1788. But that we are privileged to live in the continent with the oldest continuous civilization on earth. And that's why the generous statement, which First Nations people made through the Uluru Statement from the Heart is an extension of a hand of friendship, of reconciliation. It's one that should be met with a hand of friendship, in return. It will enrich us as a nation because we're all diminished while we don't recognise First Nations people in our Constitution. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)

ALBANESE: We certainly want to work across the Parliament. But it's been four years now under the Coalition Government. We will continue to be constructive. And we made the offer, which said that we will support any referendum which has First Nations people’s support and we will continue to work constructively, as the Shadow Minister Linda Burney has with Ken Wyatt. But what we're saying is we can't continue to be in a circumstance where we were with the apology to the Stolen Generations where, for year after year after year, we were told that now was not the right time. It is the right time to set time frames and to advance this agenda.

JOURNALIST: And what is the timeline? What is realistically the earliest Labor could, if elected, get this referendum moving?

ALBANESE: Well, we will, if we're elected, consult with First Nations people and we will also consult across the Parliament. You do need to get as broad a support as possible. But you do need to enter into the process with a commitment to a Voice to the Parliament enshrined in the Constitution. What we had with the Statement was, first, a statement by then Prime Minister Turnbull that somehow this was a third chamber of Parliament. We know that that's not the case. And what we haven't had from the Government, in spite of Ken Wyatt's commitment in 2019 at the National Press Club to a referendum this term, we haven't had that agenda advanced.

JOURNALIST: How do you commit to a referendum if you don't even know what the Voice will look like yet? How can you put down a timeline?

ALBANESE: Well, the work is being done on a Voice. That work will continue to take place. But one of the things that we need to consult on is a timeline with First Nations people and that is something that we would do.

JOURNALIST: Are you willing to say that, if you were elected, it would be in your first term?

ALBANESE: Certainly that is our our objective, to get this change in the first term. But your starting point has to be to support the change. At the moment, you don't have a timeline because you don't have a commitment to the change. So as a result, we have discussions based upon perhaps a legislated Voice, perhaps that as a first step, but with no timeframe on a second step. It's unclear what the Government's commitment is. Well, Australian Labor's commitment is very clear. It was reaffirmed at our national conference just last month, that we support a Voice enshrined in our Constitution as part of our adoption of the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a whole.

JOURNALIST: Linda, how do you think voters, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, will trust Labor on this given the slow progress so far from both sides of politics?

LINDA BURNEY, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: The slow progress has been from one side of politics. Labor, for a number of years now, has had a commitment to the Uluru Statement in full, voice, treaty and truth. And the reason that we're out here with our Leader today, Anthony Albanese, is where the actual Statement from the Heart was drafted, where it was signed. And where it went forth from our commitment is whole, whole, whole. And there is absolutely no question about that. It is, in fact, the Government's side that is dawdling on this and that's about the best way that I can put it. They are now talking about a legislative Voice to the Government. And that is a far cry from what Uluru asked for.

JOURNALIST: In the statement itself it mentions things like incarceration rates, which you've been, of course, very vocal about. Here in the Northern Territory, the Labor government is pushing new laws which they say will have the toughest consequences for youth offenders and will see more young people in prison. That's sort of mixed messages from Labor, isn't it? What do you think of that approach?

BURNEY: I don't want to comment on what's happening here with the Government here in Northern Territory. That's for them to work out and decide with the community here in Northern Territory. I know there are many discussions going on about this. Just two weeks ago, in Perth, Labor made a commitment of $92.5 million dollars to address issues to do with this deaths in custody. That goes to justice reinvestment, it goes to supporting families to participate in coronial inquest, and it goes to real time reporting of deaths in custody, our commitment to closing the gap, our commitment to deaths bringing down deaths in custody is absolute. That's where our business is.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)

BURNEY: What we can do from Canberra, probably heading into an election in the next 12 months, is advocate that there needs to be fewer numbers of people incarcerated, and advocate, and make a commitment, a very significant financial commitment, to addressing the issue of deaths in custody.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)

SNOWDON: Yes. And it's very clear that people are very frustrated with the way in which this has been dealt with by the current Government. Undertakings given to have a referendum during the course of this term, out the window. And people are frustrated because they say 'government's not listening to us'. While the job of us, why we're here, is to make sure people understand we are listening. Unlike the Government, we are listening. And an Albanese Labor government will act. Something this Government is not doing.

JOURNALIST: Are some people consumed with daily issues like access to water, which is of course a huge one, than sort of bigger picture ones like constitutional change?

SNOWDON: Actually, people are able to do a couple of things at a time. And they are able to hold their views, which they do, but also want to deal with everyday, what impacts upon them everyday. And water is one of them. Housing is another. These are all parts of the way in which we need to close the gap is to address all of those issues. But they need to be done in concert with us giving Aboriginal people the right to have and express their view to Government. Have their say and that happens with the Voice. And without the Voice we're hearing people talk but not being heard. And we want to make sure they're being properly heard. And the Voice will do that.

JOURNALIST: Marion Scrymgour couldn't make it today?

SNOWDON: No. She's a very busy woman, as you'd imagine as the CEO of the Northern Land Council. But she's going to be a very, very fine candidate, and a very good next Member for Lingiari. No doubt about it.

ALBANESE: Can I just say on a on the question of practical reconciliation, closing the gap and the Voice, that to me there are two points in response to that. Because I've heard that put argument before. One is that part of what a Voice to Parliament is about is giving First Nations people a Voice about health, about education, about things that affect them directly, their lives. And saying that they have a right to be consulted, not to have a right of veto, but to at least be consulted. That, to me when I grew up, was something called good manners. That if something impacts somebody else, you should consult them. The second issue is that if we don't respect First Nations people enough to actually recognise that our history didn't begin in 1788, then we won't be able to advance in terms of closing the gap, and those issues as well. That this is something that's more important than just a symbol. This is something that is about a recognition and about respect. And it's something as well, that will benefit not just First Nations people, but will benefit Australia as a whole. We will all be able to feel better about our nation and our nation's maturity if we have this recognition, just as the whole of Australia benefited from the apology that Kevin Rudd gave to Stolen Generations.

JOURNALIST: Just on news of the day, should commercial flights from India be suspended. And if a decision is made to do so how does that sit with the (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: Well I will make two points here. The first is that Australia should give substantial support to our friends in India who are going through this difficult time. The situation in India is a reminder of how interconnected our world is, and that if you have an outbreak of COVID in one part of the world, then it has a flow on impact to all of us. So Australia has not just an obligation as a friend, but an interest in providing support to India at this difficult time. With regard to flights from India, it's a reminder that this Government is not doing well enough when it comes to quarantine. The fact is that the Federal Government's in charge of immigration, in charge of customs, in charge of quarantine. Scott Morrison gave a clear and unequivocal commitment that he would have Australians home by Christmas. It's now April, and we have more than 30,000 Australians stranded overseas. The fact is the Government needs to get its act together when it comes to dealing with the rollout of the vaccine and with quarantine, and it needs to put in place proper quarantine arrangements.

JOURNALIST: Would you say that we should be offering locally-produced doses of AstraZeneca to India and PNG?

ALBANESE: Well, I think that we should be taking appropriate health and medical advice and providing whatever support will be helpful.

JOURNALIST: Kevin Rudd has said the Federal Government should conduct major public review of the (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: The Port of Darwin? Well, it's very difficult to see how the Federal Government can establish legislation about about our national interest and deals with foreign governments and not look at the Port of Darwin. When that lease occurred, I was the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Scott Morrison was the Treasurer. I raised my concern about Australia's national interest at that time and it's up to the Federal Government to explain how some obscure deal signed with Syria last century is able to be intervened upon, but the Port of Darwin is not an issue.

JOURNALIST: Should it be revoked?

ALBANESE: Well, we think that the Government needs to explain how its national security legislation fits with the Port of Darwin sale. We expressed concern at the time and something that we wouldn't have supported at the time. But now that it's occurred, the Federal Government needs to explain how it fits with its legislation. Thank you.

ENDS

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LINDA BURNEY & WARREN SNOWDON

TRANSCRIPT - TUESDAY, 27 APRIL 2021