Albanese weeps during Uluru ceremony
Uluru: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has broken down in tears in a moving Inma ceremony at Uluru in which traditional owners sang, danced and presented him with copy of the Uluru statement from the Heart.
Albanese arrived in Uluru accompanied by the member for the NT seat of Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour, Indigenous leader Noel Pearson and the chief executive of the Central Land Council, Les Turner, who has endorsed the Voice to parliament.
After meeting with traditional owners and hearing their stories, an emotional Albanese joined hands with local women, climbed down into the red dirt, and speaking off the cuff, he said the visit was one of the great honours of his life.
“I came here when I became leader of the Labor Party and committed right here with Linda Burney to hold a referendum in our first term for a constitutionally enshrined Voice to our parliament, and that is what we are doing,” he said.
“I believe that Australia can rise to the occasion between now and October 14. We have four days now in which Australia can be an enlarged country at peace with our history, a country more unified, a country able to move forward in the words of the Uluru statement itself – walking together, walking together for that better future.”
The prime minister said his return to the birthplace of the Uluru Statement celebrated Indigenous culture that dates back 65,000 years.
On Tuesday afternoon Albanese arrived at the sacred site for the Anangu people, one of the world’s most famous landmarks, to meet with Central Land Council delegates, traditional owners, Uluru Statement artists and senior Anangu women.
The prime minister receiving a copy of the Uluru statement. Credit: Bill Blair
More than a dozen female artists presented Albanese with a copy of the Uluru statement and he thanked them for giving the nation a masterpiece that was “every bit as powerful as the words it surrounds and every bit as generous as the statement it completes”.
“It’s extraordinary to think that the culture we are witness to here today stretches back 65,000 years. On Saturday, that culture is reaching out to Australia: a hand outstretched, for us to grasp in friendship … on Saturday, Australians can bring the beauty of this art to life with a grey lead pencil and one word – Yes.”
But as Albanese urged Australians to vote for a Voice to parliament, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton poured scorn on the prime minister’s offer to set up a bipartisan committee to design the Voice if the referendum succeeds on Saturday.
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“This bipartisan kumbaya moment the prime minister speaks of … is skewed in the government’s favour. It’s a committee where the government has the numbers. We can express a view in the committee if it takes place, but nothing we say has the chance of getting up,” he said.
“Australians are being asked to vote for a model that won’t be designed until after they’ve cast their ballot. It just doesn’t make any sense, and I think that’s why at the moment there are all sorts of rumblings within the Labor Party about the prime minister’s leadership.”
Josie Douglas, the Central Land Council general manager, said there was a long history of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory wanting to have their voices heard.
“That goes back decades, from the call for land rights and Vincent Lingiari and his struggle to be paid,” she said.
“The Voice to parliament will correct the power imbalance. At the moment, the power in terms of policymaking rests with bureaucrats who provide advice to ministers and departments. These public servants are well-intentioned, but they have little practical understanding of remote Aboriginal life in the NT.”
She said each new government had a different agenda and policy settings, and the Voice would seek “to ensure that the policies that are working have longevity”.
Ahead of the prime minister’s arrival at Uluru, Cobey and Katie Mills – on a five-month road trip from Fremantle with their children Bailey and Indiana – trekked around the base and visited the Mutitjulu waterhole .
The couple, who have not yet voted, said they were undecided when the prime minister announced the referendum but “absolutely, being here is probably going to influence which way we go”.
“Something like this [visiting Uluru] could sway the decision, I think,” Cobey said.
Katie and Cobey Mills, from Fremantle, with their children Indiana, 5, and Bailey, 8.
Katie said she hadn’t taken the time to think about the significance of the referendum but visiting Uluru “shifts the way that you think”.
“The message hasn’t been particularly clear for the average Australian – on either side – what [Yes and No] actually means,” she said.
“I would say to undecided voters just take the time to try and understand what Yes means and what No means. Do your research so you know how you’re voting, don’t go and make your vote not count.”
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Cobey added: “What is clear to me is, is it’s not really our country, we came here 250 years ago, what we’ve done is disappointing and what we’re doing isn’t working. So something needs to change, whether that is through the referendum or not”.
Albanese promised to campaign for a Yes vote “all the way to Saturday”.
“Tomorrow, I will travel to Melbourne and Victoria. Then on to Sydney, where I have an event on Thursday morning. Then to Perth, then to Adelaide, then to Hobart, then to Sydney, then to a couple of regional places as well. We are going to fulfil the commitment that I gave back in March, when I said we were all in,” he told ABC radio.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.
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