Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Constitution alteration bill has now passed the parliament. What message does this significant and positive achievement send to Australians?

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

I thank the member for his question and for his advocacy for reconciliation and a Constitutional change to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our nation's founding document. Today our parliament has said yes to holding a referendum. Now the Australian people will have a chance to say yes in a referendum that will be held in the last quarter of this year. What began at Uluru all those years ago returns to the people. It's over to you.

I say to my fellow Australians that parliaments pass laws, but it is the people who make history. This is your time, your chance, your opportunity. It will be a moment of national unity, a chance to make our nation even greater, a gracious chapter in the story of Australia. This change isn't about detracting from the 122 years of our democracy; it's about, as the Solicitor-General said, enhancing that democracy.

The fact is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are amongst our most disadvantaged. We can't continue to do the same things and expect different outcomes. For 122 years, with the best of intentions, governments have done things for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is about doing things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, listening to what their concerns are.

I know that Australians are compassionate, and I know that we can do more than one thing at a time. Australians are generous enough to care about the most vulnerable amongst us, but they're also generous enough to know that helping someone else does not make their life harder. Every act of goodwill we have made as a people has been an investment in our nation, and the returns have been extraordinary.

We have nothing to lose by voting 'yes', but there is so much for Australia to gain. Before the apology to the stolen generation was given in this parliament 15 years ago, it was opposed, and we were told it could lead to bad outcomes, but today it is celebrated, and this will be celebrated as well. All of the changes that have been made—the Mabo decision, the pouring of sand into Vincent Lingiari's hands that is so famous, the 1967 referendum—were milestones of national progress, and this can be again. A 'yes' vote at this referendum is a chance for all of us to take the next step on the journey of reconciliation—and to take it together, because that's when we're at our best—to be part of a better and more reconciled future.