The Albanese government is convening to discuss further action in addressing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, potentially in the form of an interim mechanism from community leaders directly to the prime minister.
Following the defeat of the government’s proposal for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament at the ballot box on Saturday, Mr. Albanese and his colleagues are searching for alternative solutions and will deliberate on the matter today.
In a media address on Saturday night, Mr. Albanese made it clear The Voice would not be his government’s final attempt at further “closing the gap” across the nation.
“Our government will continue to listen to people and to communities. Our government will continue to seek better outcomes for Indigenous Australians and their children in the generations to come,” Mr. Albanese proclaimed.
“Tonight is not the end of the road. It is certainly not the end of our efforts to bring people together.”
With federal parliament resuming today, senior cabinet figures will consider pushing for a short-term Indigenous advisory group to work directly with the government to construct policy prescriptions surrounding vulnerable Aboriginal communities.
The Voice referendum’s defeat was a resounding one with over 60 percent of Australians rejecting the proposal to constitutionally enshrine the body.
It was the nation’s first referendum since 1999, needing a nationwide majority along with the majority of states (four out of six) to pass.
Instead, all six states voted No. The only state or territory to approve the proposal was the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) with a 60.8 percent Yes vote.
A number of prominent Indigenous leaders have called for a week of mourning in the wake of the result. The Uluru Statement—the convention that initially proposed The Voice—yesterday published a statement claiming justice has failed to be delivered to the “true owners of Australia.”
“This is a bitter irony. That people who have only been on this continent for 235 years would refuse to recognise those whose home this land has been for 60,000 and more years is beyond reason”, the statement reads.
“It was never in the gift of these newcomers to refuse recognition to the true owners of Australia. The referendum was a chance for newcomers to show a long-refused grace and gratitude and to acknowledge that the brutal dispossession of our people underwrote their every advantage in this country.”
Rejection from Labor Heartland
With the national conversation now redirecting away from The Voice, the Albanese government faces pressure on multiple fronts, particularly from its own heartland.About 59 out of the 78 seats held by Labor MPs voted against The Voice.
Labor MP for Macarthur in south-west Sydney, Dr. Mike Freelander, criticised his government’s focus on the national referendum, saying it proved the existence of an “echo chamber of elites talking to elites and patting each other on the back.”
“The idea that that was going to win over a single voter in the outer suburbs struggling to make ends meet was probably the dumbest thing I have ever seen in politics,” Dr. Freelander told reporters.
The government is now expected to avert its focus toward cost-of-living pressures, with policies regarding industrial relations and immigration.
In its initial federal election campaign, the Albanese government promised voters a reduction in power bills of $275 annually by 2025.
Wholesale energy prices are now at record highs and are unlikely to subside—despite an election promise from the prime minister to cut power bills by $275 every year until 2025.
Yet the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is now predicting severe shortages over the summer months conducive to further price hikes and rolling blackouts.
Similarly, a recent energy conference hosted by the Australian Financial Review revealed a number of large Australian companies have had to curtail production to help ease pressure on power costs.
Producing power contains its own costs, so energy companies can help alleviate pressure by cutting back on production.
Jacinta Price’s Rise to Prominence
On Saturday after the referendum’s defeat, Senator Jacinta Price thanked the Australian people for overwhelmingly voting ‘No’.Having first grown to prominence during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots in late 2020, Senator Price and Warren Mundine were the faces of the No campaign.
“The Australian people have voted overwhelmingly to say no to this referendum. They’ve said no to division within our constitution along the lines of race. They’ve said no to the gaslighting, to the bullying, the manipulation. They’ve said no to grievance and the push from activists to suggest that we are a racist country when we are absolutely not a racist country”, Senator Price said.
A number of coalition MPs, most notably Alex Hawke and Phillip Thompson, have touted her as potential prime ministerial or deputy prime ministerial material, praising her leadership qualities.
