Anthony Albanese makes desperate appeal to Australians to vote YES ahead of vote
The Prime Minister has urged Australians to stand down and vote “yes” on the last day of Parliament before the nation holds a referendum on the Indigenous voice.
Anthony Albanese joined Indigenous AFL legend Michael Long on the final leg of his long march from Melbourne to the nation’s capital to encourage Australians to vote ‘yes’ and enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution.
Mr Albanese said Long’s efforts paralleled Wiradjuri man Jimmy Clements’ 1927 march from Brungle Mission in New South Wales to the Old Parliament House to appear uninvited at the opening ceremony of the building.
The Prime Minister has urged Australians to stand down and vote “yes” on the last day of Parliament before the nation holds a referendum on the Indigenous voice.
“The police tried to deport Clements because he had arrived after such a long walk from Tumut disheveled and barefoot,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“The crowd stood up and said, ‘No, indigenous people have a right to be here.’
“So I say, let’s work together in dignity and in unison.” All travel is, of course, about embracing something different.
The former AFL player followed the same path he took in 2004 when he protested then-Prime Minister John Howard’s decision to disband the Aboriginal and Strait Islander Commission Torres.
“(Mr Howard) told Australians to ‘maintain your rage’, but it’s not about rage, it’s about love,” Mr Long told reporters.
“It’s about giving indigenous people power over their destiny so that their culture can be a gift to this country.”
Meanwhile, the “no” case will seek to be strengthened by an opening speech by an influential senator.
Indigenous Australian opposition spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is expected to use her speech to the National Press Club to present an alternative approach to the voice enshrined in the constitution.
Senator Price, a former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, advocates recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution and the Local and Regional Voices Act.
Anthony Albanese joined AFL legend Michael Long on the final leg of his long march to Canberra
She argues that inserting an advisory body into the constitution gives three per cent of the population an “extra say” on matters that affect all Australians, thereby denying equal citizenship.
And the $33 billion spent on programs aimed at closing the gap in Indigenous well-being should be audited to ensure they are getting the greatest benefit, she says.
A bitter debate has raged in Parliament in recent days over allegations that the “no” campaign is using racism to influence voters.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who opposes the vocal referendum, of seeking to “pour even more poison into the well” in order to secure a political dividend.
Mr Dutton told Parliament the Prime Minister’s election campaign was “dividing families and our nation”.
