Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The front page of the Herald and the Age today spelled out the dishonest and divisive strategy of the 'no' campaign. It is as cynical and as shameful as you'd expect—pretend to care, try to impersonate a concerned Australia, do anything you can to sow fear and doubt and, whatever you do, avoid the facts and also, unbelievably, don't even identify that you are from the 'no' campaign. There's no wonder. There is material being circulated around saying—this is just one—'The Voice to Parliament will affect every property owner. The United Nations has given the Australian government a mandate of ownership for all housing, property, farms and businesses countrywide that will come onto effect.' It goes on and says: 'If Indigenous people are to be written into the Constitution, the United Nations will own all Australian land.' That is what is being circulated by the 'no' campaign. The bottom line headline on it is 'The final conflict for all Australians'. That is in there. That is what is being promoted by the 'no' campaign. Do you know who is on the board of the Advance Australia campaign? Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister.

The fact is that the speech from the Leader of the Opposition followed those instructions to the letter. It's disappointing but in no way surprising because, when it comes to dishonesty and division, when it comes to fear campaigns and falsehoods, this bloke wrote the book. I have news for the Leader of the Opposition. The referendum isn't about him and it's not about me. It's about an idea that came from the people, and it will be decided by the people. If this bloke ever works out how to go back in time, he will be out there campaigning against Federation, revving up the 'no' campaigners to send out telegrams across the colonies warning them of all the horrible dangers of a united Australia.

This bloke boycotted the apology. He didn't just boycott it; he stood up, along with only Wilson Tuckey, and walked out of the apology because he thought it was so bad and was going to have such a devastating impact that he threatened to resign from the frontbench on that basis. This bloke's only got one trick and one answer—no. The Herald article today outlines exactly the fear, division, sneakiness and nastiness of what is being projected.

Even the text of the motion captures the bad-faith approach of the Leader of the Opposition. It says:

(2) an unwillingness to consult in relation to the words of the constitutional amendment …

I put forward a draft form of words in my speech at Garma in July 2022. We established working groups. The Leader of the Opposition attended those working groups on two occasions, on 2 February and 16 February. Those groups worked alongside a group of constitutional experts, including senior academics and a former High Court judge. Following their consultation and advice, on 23 March we put forward the updated form of words for the referendum question and the proposed constitutional amendment. During that period, I met with the Leader of the Opposition no fewer than seven times to try to seek agreement. But, of course, at no stage in the process did the Leader of the Opposition suggest any alternative words—none. Then in April, after losing the Aston by-election in a once-in-100-year debacle, and before the joint select committee process had even begun, the Leader of the Opposition went to his party room and came out and said he would be campaigning for 'no' and then changed the words that went to the Liberal party room which spoke about a national voice and went into a press conference and spoke about local and regional voices. He couldn't even tell the truth between his own party room and that press conference that was held. He just said no and cut loose the person who he had personally chosen to be the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs and shadow Attorney-General, someone who had more than a decade of involvement in the process which occurred leading up to the Uluru Statement from the Heart that occurred under the former government in a process appointed under the former government. That happened under Tony Abbott, with that press conference that was held at Kirribilli House way back in 2014. That happened under Malcolm Turnbull, in the lead-up to the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart. That happened under Scott Morrison, and that included, of course, the appointment of Marcia Langton and Tom Calma by the former government to give advice to their cabinet. That advice went to the cabinet not once but twice and was rejected, in spite of the support of the former minister for Indigenous affairs, Ken Wyatt. The Leader of the Opposition comes in here and speaks about that.

We had the legislation. It went to the Senate and then returned, of course, here. The truth is, though, that he sat here on this side of the House and voted for the referendum to go ahead. Under the constitutional arrangements for the referendum, if you're going to support 'yes', you sit on this side of the House and you get to participate in the wording of the pamphlet that goes out. If you're going to vote no, you sit on that side of the House. That's the process that occurs.

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