PM Albanese kissing babies at the $1650 a head NT Garma festival
By Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
It still never fails to shock me how craven and cowardly this Prime Minister is.
The man who stood up on the night of his election and portrayed himself as the saviour of Indigenous Australians has, ever since the defeat of the Voice, run away from every commitment he’s made.
Of course, Labor politicians breaking promises isn’t new, but the way Anthony Albanese is shirking responsibility is worse than just normal politics.
It’s a failure of character.
The latest back down came on Sunday when he was asked on ABC’s Insiders about his government’s commitment to a Makarrata Commission; the “truth telling” part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
He was asked whether he still intended on pursuing a “truth and justice commission” and he said, actually, Makarrata is just about coming together.
Let’s be clear: I think a Makarrata Commission is a terrible idea.
I think this is an activist-led way of holding non-Indigenous Australians responsible for things in our shared history that they didn’t do.
It also continues down the track of separatism and victimisation which has continued to fail.
So if the Prime Minister is not going to go down that track, that’s great news.
But it’s not clear what the policy is now because it contradicts what the new Minister for Indigenous Affairs has said about Makarrata.
But looking deeper, this is not just a confusing message, it’s yet another example of Anthony Albanese not just breaking a promise, but pretending he didn’t promise something in the first place.
You might remember the time he squibbed responsibility for the Voice loss saying “it wasn’t a loss for me”.
Or, to look at a different issue, the way he refused to be accountable for the release of criminal immigration detainees who then went on to commit crimes.
When things go wrong, he goes missing.
That’s been the story on Indigenous matters and cost of living and immigration and many other issues since day one of Anthony Albanese becoming Prime Minister.
He says one thing in front of one crowd, like at Garma, then says another when in front of a different crowd.
When in reality he should be listening.
He should focus less on the speeches and gala dinners and more on substantial action.
On real solutions.
Like I said during the referendum: we don’t need another voice, we need ears in Canberra who will listen.
Australia needs much more than a person who likes the title of Prime Minister, we need someone who wants to do the job.
And right now in Anthony Albanese we don’t have it.
Editor: The Queensland Liberal party voted with Labor in State Parliament last year prior to the Voice referendum, in support of a state-based Voice. The bill was passed.
Ask the Queensland Liberals now if they still support it, eight weeks from a state election and they will deny everything.
In all honesty how could anyone vote for Queensland Liberals or Labor?