Subjects: Australia votes ‘no’ to the Prime Minister’s divisive Voice, Treaty, Truth proposal; the Prime Minister’s lack of leadership.
E&OE
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Well, Peter Dutton has all but abandoned plans for a second Referendum on Indigenous recognition in the Constitution if he’s elected PM.
NATALIE BARR:
After Albanese’s Voice vote failed, Peter Dutton said the Australian public was probably over the Referendum process for some time, but that’s in contrast to a commitment he made just last month. Here’s what Peter Dutton told Sunrise at the time:
[excerpt]
PETER DUTTON:
I think it’s the right thing and the respectful thing to do to simply acknowledge our history, and I think it’s the right thing to do for Indigenous Australians.
[end excerpt]
NATALIE BARR:
And Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joins us now. Good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning, Nat.
NATALIE BARR:
When we talked just what a month ago, I said to you, ‘gee, $400 million to be spent again after this Referendum, that sounds a bit strange’, and you said, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s the right thing to do’. So, why isn’t it the right thing to do now?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Nat, I know that there’s a lot of interpretation on this, but the Liberal Party’s gone to elections – every election since John Howard was leader – with the same policy. I think it is a respectful thing to do, it remains our policy, but as I’ve said and as John Howard, and Tony Abbott, and Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull have all said, you can’t go to a Referendum unless you think you’re going to win it. This was the huge mistake that the Prime Minister made, which ended up humiliating him and dividing our nation.
The reality is that you only go to a Referendum when you’ve got bipartisan support, when you’ve got support from the Indigenous leaders, and I think I just made a statement of the obvious that I don’t think Australians are really wanting to rush back to the polls for a Referendum.
So, you’re just going to weigh all of those interests up, but we need to be respectful to Indigenous Australians. I think most importantly now we need to work out what the practical steps are to get that money out of Canberra, out of the hands of bureaucrats and into the community so that we can make a difference, particularly in the closing the gap indicators. We want better education, we want better health outcomes, better housing and more jobs. So that needs to be the concentration.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
We’ll get your plans on closing the gap in a sec. The Prime Minister said, ‘you’re so negative that you’re even opposing yourself now. All trailer and no movie’.
PETER DUTTON:
Oooh.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
He also said that when you make a promise to the Indigenous people, particularly, you should fulfil it. Do you agree?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Shirvo, it’s a really interesting point; of course I agree, but the Prime Minister promised on 34 occasions that he committed fully to the statement from Uluru in full – that means not just a Voice, it means Treaty, it means truth telling, it means that Makarrata.
The Government’s committed something like $26 million already to this process, they’ve spent about $900,000 already. That’s in addition to the $450 million that he’s spent on the Referendum – which has been a disaster – and the Prime Minister now says he doesn’t know whether he’s committed to that process or not.
I think there’ll be a lot of Indigenous leaders pretty unhappy with the Prime Minister who says one thing in one room, and then walks into the next room and says completely the opposite. So, I think it’s important to live up to your word and what you’ve said…
NATALIE BARR:
But Mr Dutton, that’s exactly what you’re doing. That’s exactly what you’re doing.
PETER DUTTON:
It’s just not, Nat. I’m not…
NATALIE BARR:
You are. You said to me on this program a month ago, ‘we’re going to hold a Referendum’ and now you’re not. You’ve flipped on it, haven’t you? Whether people agree with you or not, that’s another that’s another point. But you said you were going to do it, if you got in.
PETER DUTTON:
And Nat, that remains our policy.
All I’ve said is that you’ve got to have – and this was the policy, if you look at the detail of what we went to the last election with, there’s nothing new or tricky or changed here – the fact is that you shouldn’t go to a Referendum unless you’ve got bipartisan support. The Prime Minister says that he won’t support recognition. I don’t know why, because he has in the past. You don’t go to a Referendum spending a lot of money unless you believe that you’ve got a chance of success. Also, people have just gone through a pretty bruising process and I don’t think they want to be lining up at polling booths again in the near future.
So, I’m absolutely committed to making sure that we recognise Indigenous Australians. I think it’s a respectful thing to do and as I say, it’s been our policy since John Howard – that remains – but I’m not going to go to a Referendum in the reckless style that the Prime Minister did without the detail, refusing to explain, refusing to engage, not seeking bipartisanship. He was just after his moment in Australian history, he was going to be the great Bob Hawke figure, and Australians have paid a big price for that because he’s divided our country.
The task for us now is to get back to basics, to make sure the money is being spent where it’s supposed to be spent in Indigenous communities, not on bureaucrats. Australians are working harder than ever for their money, they’re paying tax dollars, they want them to be spent wisely.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Just really quickly, in terms of closing the gap, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said that New South Wales aren’t necessarily opposed to putting through a Voice in State Parliament. Would you agree that maybe the states should handle that side of it?
PETER DUTTON:
Shirvo, I just think the overwhelming majority of Australians have spoken with a pretty strong voice only last Saturday. So, if leaders decide that they don’t want to heed that advice or take the instruction from the public, well, I suppose they can face the wrath at the time of the next election.
I think it’s important that we get down to the practical things. I think a lot of the sort of the ‘nice tos’, the Voice and the Makarrata or and all the rest of it; the Prime Minister’s talking about a process of Treaty that goes on for between 20 and 30 years. We’re talking about tens of billions of dollars and a continuation of the division that he’s created out of the Referendum, and I just think we need to get back to increasing school attendance rates. We need to make sure that kids are living in safety. Reduce the domestic violence rates and get people back to work.
MATT SHIRVINGTON:
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks guys. Thank you.
[ends]