Anthony Albanese never read 25-page manifesto which shaped Uluru Statement from the Heart

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese failed to read the 26 pages of meeting briefings, notes and background that led to the Heart of Uluru declaration.

Mr Albanese has repeatedly pledged to implement the declaration “in its entirety”, upholding the three pillars born out of the dialogues around Australia in 2017: voice, treaty, truth.

It has since been revealed that there is a detailed 26-page explanation of the statement which calls for reparations, ‘rent’ to be paid and a review of land rights. Such words were never included in the statement itself.

The Prime Minister was asked if he ‘agrees with most of what is said in these pages’ during a lengthy interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

To the radio host’s surprise, Mr Albanese revealed that he had not read it.

“I haven’t read it,” he said. ‘There are 120 pages, why would I?

“I know what the conclusion is. The Heart Uluru Statement is one page long. This is the conclusion.

What was adopted at the Uluru convention in 2017 was the one-page declaration, and other requests and suggestions made during the dialogue process were not “endorsed by the declaration” or “adopted”. as government policy.

Yes, campaigners and officials have repeatedly insisted that the Heart of Uluru declaration “respects the primacy of parliament” and that all decision-making power will ultimately rest with the politicians of the day to negotiate.

The referendum would ensure that an advisory body – the voice of Parliament – ​​would be enshrined in the Constitution and that there would be no way for a future government to abolish it entirely.

Confusion over the vote and Mr Albanese’s handling of the looming referendum have hurt him at the polls, with support for his party and him as leader plummeting over the past month.

Labor is still the preferred party to govern, but grassroots support has fallen from 39 to 37, while the Coalition has fallen from 30 to 33%.

Respondents overwhelmingly described the voice as a point of contention in the Resolve poll, as campaigning on both sides of the divide intensifies.

Mr Albanese argued that Peter Dutton and the No campaign are well aware that the statement “is one page, not hundreds of pages”.

He said the pages that were recently “discovered” through a freedom of information request were never hidden.

“These pages have been on the website for years, placed under the former coalition government,” he said.

“I respect that people can look at the same thing and come to different conclusions, there are legitimate reasons why people would do that. I just wish people were debating what is real, rather than what they know isn’t real.

Yes campaigner and co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue, Professor Megan Davis, said last year that First Nations people had called on the Australian public to read the 26-page document containing the Uluru Declaration for years .

She said: “For seven years we have encouraged politicians, the media and Australians in general to engage to learn more about the Uluru Declaration from the Heart.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said that this proposal fits on an A4 page. He held up a piece of paper, with the Uluru declaration, in parliament

“We asked Australians to read the page and the ‘Our Story’ that follows and the summary of the decision-making and many other documents contained in the report.

“We’ve had thousands of conversations about this and come up with many more.”

Mr Albanese has confirmed that he will not seek to legislate the vote if it is defeated in the referendum and that he will respect the wishes of the Australian public.

But he thinks it would be a missed opportunity to improve the lives of people with “intergenerational disadvantage”.

“We are doing our best,” the prime minister said.

Mr Albanese categorically denied supporting reparations and assured listeners that such a policy was not on his agenda.

He was asked: ‘Do we have to deal with this? Regardless of the Voice rising somewhere on the track, do we have to deal with it? ‘

The Prime Minister replied: “no”.

Mr Albanese has repeatedly said the Labor Party is committed to adopting the Heart of Uluru Declaration ‘in its entirety’

Mr Albanese has confirmed that he will not seek to legislate the vote if it is defeated in the referendum and that he will respect the wishes of the Australian public.

Mitchell asked if it was “unreasonable for people to read the extra pages and ask” questions about the prospect of treaties, reparations and truth.

But Mr Albanese said his problem was that no campaigner seemed to confuse such issues with the voice.

“What is not legitimate is to pretend that this is what the referendum is about. There’s nothing in Uluru’s statement about reparations. There is truth, but does anyone object to telling the truth? »

Mitchell said, ‘well it depends, whose truth is it?’

In 2018, Professor Davis told a convention that: “The Uluru Declaration of the Heart is not just the first one-page declaration; it’s actually a very long document of about 18-20 pages, and a very powerful part of this document reflects what happened in the dialogues.

Seeking to clarify, Prof Davis now says: ‘The first page, the only page, is the statement and the rest shows how our crowd has been working this over the two years that we have been doing this work.’

Yes23 campaign manager Dean Parkin told 2GB’s Ben Fordham: ‘The additional material we’re talking about is the input. These are the broader consultations that took place before.

“It was about making sure people understood that there was substance that led to the process, that led to this last page of a document.”

But there are concerns about the content of the wider document, as it shows the agenda of those who drafted the Uluru declaration, which the government intends to adopt in full.

The document clarifies that Makarrata is another word for treaty, which is another word for concluding an agreement. The terms can be used interchangeably

Within the 26-page document are discussions of land rights, reparations and sovereignty.

“At the heart of our activism is the long struggle for land rights,” the document states. “The taking of our lands without consent represents our fundamental grievance against the British Crown.

‘There are unfinished business to be solved. And the way to address these differences is through reaching agreements.

The document clarifies that Makarrata is another word for treaty, which is another word for concluding an agreement. The terms may be used interchangeably.

“This is the culmination of our program,” the document reads – a line that made its way into the final version of the Uluru declaration.

“It reflects our aspirations for a fair and honest relationship with government and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

“Through a negotiated settlement, First Nations can build cultural strength, regain control, and make practical changes to the things that matter in their daily lives.

“By reaching agreements at the highest level, the process of negotiation with the Australian government allows First Nations to express their sovereignty.”