Anthony Albanese is under pressure to clarify his position on a treaty with Indigenous Australians after he repeatedly dodged the question in a lively radio interview.
The Prime Minister committed to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, including a Makaratta Commission to oversee “treaty” and “truth-telling” with Indigenous Australians, in his election victory speech.
Draft changes to Labor’s national platform, due to be taken to the party’s national conference later this month, suggested the government would take steps towards a treaty within this term of parliament.
But asked on Wednesday, Mr Albanese was unwilling to say whether his government would negotiate a treaty should the Voice referendum be successful.
“What is before the Australian people is a referendum, which is about Voice which is the first part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It’s about listening and about results,” he told ABC RN Breakfast.
Mr Albanese’s said processes to negotiate treaties were ongoing with the states and likened being asked if he supported treaty to “like saying do you support the sun coming up.”
“It’s occurring in Victoria … It’s occurring in Queensland. It’s occurring in the Northern Territory,” he said.
Host Patricia Karvelas repeatedly pushed back on the Prime Minister as she sought to nail down his position on the Commonwealth’s role in treaty negotiation.
“It doesn’t even say that in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It doesn’t say that, it doesn’t speak about the Commonwealth negotiating treaties. It doesn’t say that Patricia, so don’t get sucked into (the No campaign argument),” Mr Albanese responded.
“I’m not getting sucked into anything. I just want to know what your position is,” Karvelas quipped back.
“What the Commonwealth has a role in is the referendum that we‘ll put to the Australian people in the last quarter, that is what is happening.
“Treaties are … negotiations are occurring in Victoria, in Queensland and in the Northern Territory,” the Prime Minister responded.
In recent days, the Coalition has used question time to turn up the heat on the government to detail whether the Voice is just the gateway to a treaty process.
Mr Dutton claimed the Prime Minister has been contradictory on the matter and the question goes to the matter of his integrity.
On Monday, Mr Albanese said the Coalition was desperate to score political points at the expense of First Nations people.
Asked again on Tuesday, he said the No camp was “incapable” of putting together a valid argument against the referendum.
“If you believe that there is something wrong with the question that Australians will actually vote for between October and December this year, then put that case,” he said.
“The No campaign continues to raise things that are not a part of the question that is before the Australian people.”
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney also declined to answer questions about the $5.8m allocated in the October 2022 budget for an independent Makarrata Commission.
The commission is a key element of the Uluru Statement and would oversee the truth and treaty process.