ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I've just had the great privilege of voting in my first referendum this century. That is a reminder that these opportunities do not come around every day. This is an opportunity to make history. A once in a generation chance to recognise our first Australians in our nation's founding document. And to do so, in the way in which we have been requested by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves. Just simply to have a non-binding advisory committee to advise parliament and government on matters that affect Indigenous Australians. There is nothing to fear from voting Yes, but everything to gain. Because those two simple changes, recognition and the opportunity to listen through a non-binding advisory committee will make the greatest country on Earth that much greater. We have this opportunity before us. It may not come around for a very long time again. And that's why I'm heartened by the extraordinary support that we're receiving this morning from the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Redfern Oval where I was, but during the week, last night from the creative industry. From Jimmy Barnes, and Hilltop Hoods, and A.B. Original and Paul Kelly, and others performing in Shepperton. From the people I've met on polling booths in Wangaratta, and Brisbane, and Sydney, and Melbourne. From the faith groups who I met with on Thursday morning, Catholics, Anglicans, Muslims, Baptists, Sikhs, Hindus, people from the Greek Orthodox Church, Maronite Catholics, Melkite, people from all religions, Buddhists, all combining. I had that real sense of unity. We live in a great country, Australia. We are a country that is a great multicultural success story, and there is nowhere where that's more evident than right here in my home in Marrickville. But we can be that much stronger if we take the opportunity to recognise the first Australians in our nation's founding document. And I ask this, if not now, when? And if not us, who? And that's why so many young Australians have been inspired and are campaigning so strongly as well. But I ask of all Australians to read what you are voting for, because the words are very clear. The first clause, the recognition. In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first peoples of Australia, very clear. Then the three points behind the form of recognition. The what, there shall be a body, the Voice. The what will it do, it may give advice to Parliament and Government on matters affecting Indigenous Australians. And the third, the primacy of the parliament that remains, the key point that shows there is nothing to fear here. Something backed up by Justice French, the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, who gave a powerful speech yesterday at the National Press Club about why this is a legally sound proposition and why the fear campaign that is being run has no basis. I believe that Australians are optimistic and a hopeful people. And I know that no nation has been lifted up through fear. What lifts a nation up is hope and optimism and a vision for the Future moving forward. And that's what Australians have the opportunity to do in the next seven days. In the next seven days, I was in Queensland yesterday, I will be in the other five states and two territories over the coming seven days. And I cast my vote today for Yes and I did so proudly in the knowledge that this is the request of Indigenous Australians. A hand out reached, simply asking for non-Indigenous Australia to grasp that hand of friendship in the spirit of reconciliation. So as the Uluru Statement says itself, so we can all move forward together to a better future. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minster, you’ve cast your vote. In that room then, what was the vibe? Are you positive?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm very positive. And when I talk with fellow Australians, and when Australians have questions, and when they are answered, when people look out what the question is, they see that there's nothing to fear from voting Yes. A really gracious request. And the consequences of voting No, is that no does lead us nowhere. This mightn’t come around for a very long period of time. We know that this is the first referendum that has been held this century. No one under the age of forty has ever voted in a referendum again. And for those Indigenous Australians, like Tom Calma, the senior Australian of the Year, like Aunty Pat Anderson, people who have struggled their whole life. Norma Ingram today, one of the delegates to the Uluru Constitutional Convention of First Nations people in 2017, said today at Redfern, that this would be the only opportunity in her lifetime. Indigenous Australians have struggled for a long period of time. And we have become a much better country as we've embraced the fullness and richness of our history. But the Australian story is not complete. The Australian Constitution, John Howard said back in 2007, was not complete because it did not recognise that our history didn't begin in 1788. We have an opportunity with this referendum to write the next chapter in the great Australian story. That marks that we have to being an inclusive country, coming to terms with the fullness of our history. Saying to the world we're a mature nation. We are the only former colony in the world that does not recognise our first peoples in our founding document, the only country in the world. It is important that this get done, and that this get done in the next seven days.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you speak a lot about national unity. Is it possible that there can be, I suppose, a unified country after this given the amount of damage and abuse and misinformation that has been spread throughout the campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there has been a lot of misinformation during the campaign. And I note indeed that the company that was organising phone polling, from the United States mind you, question mark about that, from the United States has withdrawn from that process. But look in the lead up to the Apology to Stolen Generations I sat in the Parliament, I've sat in the office across the road here since 1996. The Howard Government said that the Apology for Stolen Generations would create all these negative repercussions. That's why they couldn't give an apology. So I'm not going to take lectures from John Howard who was in office for twelve years, and Tony Abbott, who was the Prime Minister of this nation as well that cut funding for Indigenous programs in his 2014 budget. And they're on the front page of the paper today lecturing about a way forward. John Howard said that the Apology would have bad negative consequences, which is why he would never do it. The truth is that in 2008 on the first day that the Parliament of the Rudd Labor government sat, the Apology was given. Brendan Nelson showed leadership as the Liberal Party leader and backed that apology, and the nation was lifted up. And at that moment, we became a stronger, more unified nation. And we will be a stronger more unified nation with a Yes vote. When people wake up on October 15, and the sky is still there. There is nothing to fear from a Yes vote, we will feel better about ourselves. This is about respect for the first Australians. It's also about what we feel about ourselves. The burden of colonialism that sits on our shoulders will be just lifted off a little bit by recognising first Australians in our nation's founding document. As New Zealand did in the 19th century, and as Canada did in the 20th century, and Scandinavian countries did, and other nations did. So there is nothing to fear here. And I believe this will be a moment of national unity. The same unity that I saw expressed from the faith leaders on Thursday. The same unity that we saw expressed by Indigenous people at Uluru in 2017. The same unity from all of the sporting codes, businesses, unions, non-government organisations that have examined this and have come to the conclusion that voting Yes will make us a stronger country.
JOURNALIST: Let me ask you about the comments from Anthony Pratt. Does that have any implications on Australia-US security arrangements?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't comment on security arrangements of another country. I also don't –
JOURNALIST: Australia-US -
PRIME MINISTER: I don't comment on the security arrangements of another country. That is a matter for the United States. Simply to say that Australia has a very good relationship with our friends in the United States. It is an important alliance, and I look forward to in two weeks’ time, I will be travelling to the United States for an official state visit. It’s first state visit by an Australian Prime Minister to the United States for a considerable period of time, and I very much look forward to that. And I thank President Biden for giving Australia the honour, through myself as the Prime Minister of holding an official State Dinner as part of that official state visit.
JOURNALIST: Have his comments reached you, Anthony Pratt’s comments?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't comment –
JOURNALIST: He said he –
PRIME MINISTER: I don't comment on US security matters.
JOURNALIST: How do you propose moving forward if there is a No vote? There is a lot of First Nations people across the country who want to know what the plan is if Yes doesn’t get up?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what the Indigenous leaders that I speak to, including I was with Rachel Perkins and a bunch of Indigenous leaders this morning, and last night with Briggs and others there at Shepperton and indeed with elders at Wangaratta, and around Thursday night in Brisbane with Megan Davis and Aunty Pat Anderson. What we're focused on is a positive outcome between now and the next week. We're focused on a positive outcome. If a Yes vote is carried, what I've said is that I will very quickly convene a Parliamentary Committee, a Joint Parliamentary Committee. I'll ask that it be jointly chaired by someone from the Labor party and someone from the Coalition to work through the legislation so there's as much support as possible.
JOURNALIST: Seven days to go, have you got anything in your back pocket to help convince no voters? Any videos?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, just the big thing we've got, well people are out there campaigning. The important thing is this isn't about politicians, it's about every Australian having one vote. And I must say that the extent to which the campaign is being grassroots led is quite heartening as well. Briggs, part of A.B. Original, has done a fantastic video of himself, talking with two young people in a pub about googling what the Voice is about. Now it has had millions of views already. It's that sort of activity from people, and I say to people who support a Yes vote in this referendum, don't just talk to each other, have a conversation. Have a conversation with your neighbour or with your workmates, with people outside the school pickup. Have a conversation with your family and friends about what this question is about. And I say again, it's about just two things, recognition and the form of recognition being a non-binding advisory committee. This is three per cent of the population, and if we don't do something different then we can expect the same outcomes. We have the Closing the Gap targets only four out of nineteen are being met, and that we have an eight year life expectancy gap. We have a gap when it comes to infant mortality. We have diseases that have been eradicated in non-Indigenous Australia still present. We have worse health, education and housing outcomes. There's a greater chance to be young Indigenous male going to jail than to university. In 2023 in Australia, we can do better, we must do better, we will do better if Australians vote Yes in this referendum. Thanks very much.