Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticised by Indigenous members of the centre-right Coalition and left-wing Greens for involving NBA star Shaquille O'Neal in the government’s efforts to implement the “Indigenous Voice” to Parliament.
Jacinda Nampijinpa Price, conservative-leaning Country Liberal Party senator, and Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for First Nations, delivered a strong rebuke of Albanese’s actions.
Price called the press conference, which also involved current Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney, a “cringy” stunt and said the Labor government was not serious about Indigenous issues.
“It’s quite insulting not just for Indigenous Australians but all Australians,” Price said. “We are talking about issues here that are really, really important.”
“Let’s face it, here is a foreigner; he may have dark skin, but that does not make him an expert on anything Indigenous; that does not make him a constitutional expert.”
Coalition, Greens Accuse Labor of Ignoring the Plight of Indigenous Australians
Price denounced the prime minister for not accepting requests from herself and fellow Indigenous activists to visit the Northern Territory and see the realities of Aboriginal Australians communities.“There are a lot of marginalised Indigenous Australians in this country who right now are suffering, and this government is ignoring that suffering,” Price said.
Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe also took the Albanese government to task, saying that Labor had routinely ignored the solutions.
“Why is Labor talking to American celebrities about advisory bodies when we’ve got First Nations people dying in custody?” Senator Thorpe said.
“We have the solutions. We’ve had the solutions for decades, and Labor is ignoring them. Want to prevent First Nations people from going to jail in the first place? Implement the remaining recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.”
Thorpe said that Labor should demonstrate its commitment to Indigenous Australians by focusing its energies not on the “Indigenous Voice” but on solutions. The Voice is slated to be an advisory body to Parliament with details of the extent of its powers yet to be decided.
“Labor needs to stop tinkering around the edges with new so-called solutions. I’m seeing a lot of time and energy being put towards laying out a pathway to the Voice while neglecting work that is decades overdue,” she said.
Thorpe called for the government to take immediate action on Aboriginal death rates in custody.
“This is not the first time Labor has been in government and ignored the self-determined solutions our old people gave them in favour of photo ops,” she said.
“You don’t need a Voice to Parliament to tell us that the recommendations from a 31-year-old Royal Commission needs to be urgently implemented to reduce the incarceration of our people.
NBA Star Wanted to Lend Support
Meanwhile, Albanese has defended the media conference with O'Neal, saying that the U.S. sporting star had approached him to lend support to the referendum and raise awareness in the community.“Shaq appeals to a whole bunch of people, many of whom would have been hearing about the Voice to Parliament for the very first time, and that’s a good thing,” Albanese said.
“I make no apologies for saying I'll engage with anyone, anywhere, any time, about these issues and anything we can do to raise the profile of this issue is a good thing.”
However, the prime minister has said that the referendum to enshrine Indigenous recognition in the Australian Constitution will not be held any time soon.
Albanese has ruled out any vote in the next nine months, saying he wants to allow time for debate on the issue.
“It’s not a third chamber of Parliament; it’s not a decision-making body; it’s simply a matter of good manners and respect by recognising people in the Constitution and then consulting them on matters that directly affect them.”
