By Carly Williams and David Speers for ABC
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Voice to Parliament is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. File image. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has warned no other forms of Indigenous recognition will be on the table if the Voice referendum fails.
He told ABC's Insiders program, filmed at Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land, he will not back down from constitutional recognition in the form of a Voice to Parliament because that was the specific request First Nations people made in the Uluru Statement.
"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," he said.
"Many people in the Republic referendum thought it would come around again."
In 1999, Australia voted no in a referendum to break ties with the monarchy with many republicans not agreeing with the proposed model on offer.
The prime minster rejected an alternate form of recognition for Indigenous Australians if the Voice referendum fails.
"I'm focused on success, not on hypotheticals of what will occur if it is not success," he said.
"They want constitutional recognition, they want a voice.
"If the referendum fails, it will be a clear sign that it doesn't have the support of the Australian people."
A Voice to Parliament, created via a referendum, was the key recommendation from hundreds of First Nations people at Uluru in 2017 through the Uluru Statement.
A Voice, enshrined in the Constitution, would be a body of First Nations people that would advise Parliament, and the executive government, on issues that effect them.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has argued a simpler, more symbolic, form of recognition - without a Voice - would be overwhelmingly supported by the public.
Dutton has said an alternate model of local and regional voices through legislation would be a more efficient advocate for Indigenous communities.
But the PM has rejected that argument.
He said a constitutionally enshrined Voice was the only formula for Indigenous recognition and said Dutton was "not listening" to Indigenous Australians.
"There's a contradiction in Peter Dutton's position," he said.
"He says that he supports constitutional recognition, so both sides do. He says that he supports a legislated Voice, so both sides do. The difference here is he's saying don't put it in the Constitution.
"They (Indigenous Australians) want a form of constitutional recognition that has substance, not just style, that can't be just dismissed on a stroke of a pen.
"And Peter Dutton says he wants a Voice but legislated. But then not listen at the very first point is the form of recognition that they want."
The prime minister has ruled out delaying the referendum amid polls showing a slip in support for the yes case.
The referendum must be held between mid September and mid December and while he was yet to announce a date on the vote, the prime minister said he will keep the top end's wet season in mind.
- This story was first published by ABC.
