Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Did the Prime Minister ever receive advice from a member or members of the Referendum Working Group suggesting the referendum be delayed to a date later than 14 October?

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

No is the answer to the question. Indeed, Yunupingu had this to say when talking about the Uluru Statement from the Heart and about what needed to happen:

So the task remains: to reconcile with the truth, to find the unity and achieve the settlement. A prime minister must lead it and complete it. The leader of the nation should accept his or her commission and simply say what he or she thinks is right, and put that forward for the nation to correct, or to accept, or to reject. Let us have an honest answer from the Australian people to an honest question.

We did that. I note that very insensitively last week the Leader of the Opposition raised Yunupingu, something that I know, from speaking to some of the leaders of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land, they were terribly offended by, given the role that Yunupingu played in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. But that's something for the Leader of the Opposition to consider.

I note as well that the leader of the opposition in the other place had this to say:

Perceptions of intolerance created by some hasn't just cost the votes of those who feel judged, it has hurt the Liberal Party with all who reject nastiness or divisiveness

They're the words of Simon Birmingham, the leader of the Liberal Party in the Senate. And of course in this chamber the member for Bass had this to say, 'I think the party needs to stop ideological dog whistling.'

We had a referendum in accordance with the commitment that I gave to the Australian people. We had it at a time, 18 months in, which was similar to what John Howard promised in 2007 he would do. We did it to separate it away from when elections would be, and anyone who had a look at the parliamentary sitting timetable could have worked out some time ago what the options were for dates of the referendum. I outlined it last year, post my speech to Garma, where I outlined the draft. We changed that of course, in accordance with the advice that we got, but we also outlined the timetable of when the referendum would be held. (Time expired)