A Voice campaigner’s extraordinary six-month, 14,400km run across the country in support of the Yes vote has concluded in the proverbial heart of Australia.
Pat Farmer says running 14,400km across the country in support of the Voice to Parliament has been the “most important and consequential journey” of his life.
Six months after he set off from Tasmania, the ultra-marathon runner and former Liberal MP finished his journey at the base of Uluru on Wednesday morning, three days before the Voice to Parliament referendum.
It was at Uluru in 2017 that the Uluru Statement from the Heart was signed, calling for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the constitution.
Mr Farmer said Uluru had been a “magnet” to his soul, and he couldn’t help but feel a spiritual sense of connection between the land and its inhabitants.
“And it’s something that we all need to embrace and learn from an experience as well,” he said.
“And that’s why I want to invite all Australians, all Australians to know and to understand and to learn the indigenous culture that is Australia.
“And now finally, I understand what our Indigenous people have been trying to say to us for such a long piece of time – that they are connected to this earth and we need to love and respect this country.
“And I think if all Australians see it the way that I’ve seen it, then you’ll understand the significance this place and this country that we call home.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “no one has done more” than Mr Farmer for the Yes campaign.
“(Mr Farmer) has provided an inspiration for Australians and what he has done is, in running 14,400km to ask his fellow Australians to just walk a few metres, walk into a polling booth and write Y-E-S on the ballot paper on the referendum,” Mr Albanese said.
“I ask of my fellow Australians nothing more but nothing less either than to read the clear proposition that’s on the ballot paper and to come to their own position which the government will certainly respect.
“But I think when Australians read what is proposed, recognition through a body to make representations on matters affecting Indigenous people with the parliament and government retaining its primacy, then the answer is very clear, the answer is yes!
“Together, what that will do is enable us to move forward as a nation in such a positive way and I express my utter admiration and awe for the commitment that Pat Farmer has shown.”
More than two million Australians have already voted in the first referendum since 1999, ahead of polling day on Saturday.
Australians are being asked whether they say “yes” or “no” to a proposal to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the constitution.
In an emotional press conference, Mr Farmer said he had spoken to thousands of people across the country during his effort, and that the words of one Indigenous leader in Adelaide had stuck out to him.
“She said we don’t want sympathy … what we need is empathy,” he said.
“The difference between those two is when somebody walks in your shoes, when somebody understands what it’s like to live without and understands the need to close the gap.
“And that’s, we have the opportunity to do on Saturday. All we have to do is vote yes. And we can change history in this country for the better, for future generations, for our children, and for all children in this nation.”
Despite No leading in all the polls, Mr Albanese said he wholeheartedly believed Australians could “rise to this occasion”.
“We are a great country where the greatest country on Earth will be a little bit greater if we wake up on Sunday having recognised the First Australians, and having said that we want to listen to them about matters that affect them,” he said.
“There’s no downside.”
Reflecting on Australia’s coat of arms, Mr Farmer called on Australians to understand the significance of the kangaroo and the emu – two native Australian animals that cannot walk backwards.
“We do not walk backwards. We do not take a backward step. We only ever move forward,” Mr Farmer said.
“And so on Saturday, we have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past, to correct those mistakes and to move forward together as one, together.”