Category Archives: Indigenous voice to parliament

Albanese says it’s ‘dumb’ to expect change without Indigenous voice in talkback radio clash

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PM tells 2GB radio’s Ben Fordham that media have a responsibility not to ‘raise red herrings’ after being repeatedly questioned over impacts of voice proposal

Anthony Albanese has branded it “dumb” to suggest outcomes for Indigenous Australians can improve without a voice to parliament in the constitution, muscling up to conservative critics of the referendum proposal.

The prime minister made the comment in a testy interview on 2GB Radio, warning that media have a responsibility not to “raise red herrings” and urging Australians to read about the actual question for themselves.

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Senator says treaty ‘the only way forward’ – as it happened

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Julian Leeser, the former shadow minister for Indigenous affairs and yes campaigner, has reassured ABC Radio that the voice to parliament is a “safe change” with cross-party support as the referendum draws nearer.

“Right from the beginning of my participation in this debate, I’ve called for a higher standard of debate and I’ve said that we should focus on issues of people,” he said.

I was proud to put my signature to the yes case. The yes case provides a positive reason for voting … It speaks to the practical results from change. It explains why recognition makes a difference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But it’s a safe change. It’s a change supported by people from all sides of politics.

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Australia news live: ‘are you really worth seven times the salary of the PM?’ Labor senator asks Deloitte chief

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Former competition watchdog Allan Fels tells parliamentary inquiry federal government must act now to avoid conflicts of interest. Follow the day’s news live

Divers are trying to retrieve hundreds of drones that plunged into Melbourne’s Yarra River over the weekend due to a technical error.

The drones were part of a light show for the Matildas’ game against France on Friday night but fell into the river due to a technical glitch. The retrieval operation began on Sunday and is continuing on Monday.

We want to see all drones taken back out of the river because we know if they are left there they will leach chemicals which can damage the environment.

We want investors to come into the market to take advantage of the great demand for rental accommodation.

But we don’t want to stifle that by putting unnecessary burden (on landlords).

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Voice backers sign off on ‘simple, hopeful’ message for referendum pamphlet

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Yes and no camps have been writing their competing essays, to be published by AEC on Tuesday

Supporters of an Indigenous voice to parliament say they are “ready to prosecute their simple, hopeful message” and will submit the official yes case to the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday.

The yes and the no camps have been drafting their competing essays, limited to 2,000 words each, with the two documents to be published online by the AEC on Tuesday.

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Indigenous voice no campaign targets religious voters who opposed marriage equality

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The no campaign plans to tap into the ‘unheard majority’ in Sydney, believing there is a bloc of socially conservative religious voters ripe for its messages

The no campaign in the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament is targeting migrant communities and parts of Sydney that voted strongly against marriage equality in the 2017 postal vote, Warren Mundine has said.

The campaign believes there is a cohort of religious and socially conservative voters who are open to its messaging on implications of the voice.

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Nationals accuse Labor of ‘hypocrisy’ over response to scathing APVMA report – as it happened

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Cabinet meeting to decide Lowe’s successor today

Philip Lowe will be replaced as the Reserve Bank governor, with today’s cabinet meeting to decide his successor, Guardian Australia has confirmed.

If I was asked to continue in the role, I would be honoured to do that and I would continue.

If I am not asked to continue in the role, I will do my best to support my successor, and the treasurer has said he will make an announcement before the end of this month.

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No campaign runs opposite claims on Indigenous voice across different social media pages

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Exclusive: Advance lobby group runs multiple Facebook pages that target different demographics, including one that purports to be a neutral news source

The no campaign in the Indigenous voice referendum is running three different social media strategies, each targeting different groups of Australians with apparently contradictory messages, a Guardian Australia investigation can reveal.

The lobby group Advance, one of the lead organisations in the no camp, runs one Facebook page highlighting conservative criticism, another highlighting progressive complaints, and a third portraying itself as a neutral news source.

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Voice would help ‘change frustration’ over health and education, Linda Burney says

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Canberra has to listen to locals, minister tells a community meeting in WA, as Richard Marles says Indigenous affairs is an ‘offence to the fair go’

The Indigenous voice would help “change the frustration” of Aboriginal Australians in health and education, Linda Burney has said, adding that those issues had been “ghettoised” into her portfolio in the past rather than dealt with more closely by responsible ministers.

Speaking at a major community meeting in Western Australia’s Pilbara region on Wednesday night, the minister for Indigenous Australians said that the proposed national voice was part of the Albanese government trying to “do things differently”.

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Australia news live: calls for flu jab increase after second child’s death; Tasmanian Greens leader resigns

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Andrew and Nicola Forrest, billionaires in iron ore mining, have separated after 31 years of marriage.

They said the separation will not impact their mining operations, in a statement:

After 31 years of marriage, we have made the decision to live apart.

Our friendship and commitment to our family remains strong.

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Indigenous voice: no campaign’s deep links to conservative Christian politics

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The no camp employs lobbyists that specialise in conservative Christian campaigning, Guardian Australia can reveal

The lobby groups campaigning to sink the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum have deep links to a number of conservative Christian organisations and consultancies, a Guardian investigation can reveal.

The no campaign is working with companies that appear to specialise in conservative Christian campaigning, including a US-headquartered marketing and fundraising firm that aims to help Christian nonprofit ministries “fulfill their mission”. Our investigation also shows links between the no campaign and the failed conservative push to defeat the marriage equality postal survey in 2017.

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Australia news live: ANZ says customers ‘by and large are faring extremely well’ despite interest rates squeeze

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A student on New South Wales’s Central Coast has died after contracting the influenza virus, just days after NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant warned circulation of influenza B was rising and young people were at heightened risk from the strain.

You can read the full story here:

Having a budget which is in much better nick means that if at some future point – and we’re not contemplating additional measures right now – but at some future point if we need to, we do that from a much more solid foundation. And that’s because we’re managing the budget so responsibly.

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Australia news live: China’s access to TikTok data ‘needs to be interrogated’, Shoebridge says

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It will be easier for women to medically terminate pregnancies up to 63 days of gestation, now that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved an application from MS Health to amend restrictions on the prescribing of MS-2 Step (Mifepristone and Misoprostol).

MS-2 Step was only able to be prescribed by a doctor certified to prescribe the medicine, and then dispensed by a pharmacist who was a registered dispenser.

We’re investing in the care economy, we’re investing in manufacturing and we’re investing in critical infrastructure to create secure, well-paid jobs for Australian workers.

While we know that slowing global growth, higher prices and higher interest rates will impact our economy and labour market and continue to strain household budgets over the coming months, Australia is in a better position than nearly anyone else to face the challenges ahead.

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Meta vows to crack down on abuse and misinformation surrounding voice to parliament referendum

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Exclusive: Parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads says it will ensure content on its platforms is ‘contributing to democracy’

Facebook and Instagram want to be “contributing to democracy” and not exacerbating harms surrounding the Indigenous voice referendum, the company’s Australian policy head has said, as the social media giant beefs up protections on misinformation, abuse and mental health before the national vote.

Meta, the parent company of the two apps, on Monday announced it would boost funding to factcheckers monitoring misinformation, activate global teams to locate and respond to potential “threats” to the referendum – including coordinated inauthentic behaviour – and form a partnership with ReachOut for mental health support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The company will also maintain transparency tools such as its ad library that tracks political spending.

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Keating calls Nato head a ‘supreme fool’ over plan to open office in Asia – as it happened

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Racist throwback to Jim Crow days in America

Burney says the advert that ran in the Financial Review encouraging a “no” vote on the referendum over the Indigenous voice to parliament was “totally unacceptable”.

I think Matt Kean, the Shadow Health Minister in New South Wales, really nailed it, David, where he likened it to a racist throwback from the Jim Crow days in America, but it was also incredibly sexist and it is something in the words of Matt Kean, the ‘no‘camp has every right to have a say, but there are better ways of doing it.

I know Aboriginal Australia and I know that people know what the important issues - things like what I’ve identified - education, health, housing, jobs - and Josie Douglas who is this remarkable Aboriginal woman in the central land council put it perfectly: We are about changing lives, not changing dates.

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Peter Dutton concedes individuals made ‘mistakes’ on robodebt but warns against ‘trial by media’

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Opposition leader accuses Labor of politicising the royal commission findings and calls Bill Shorten a ‘political animal’

Peter Dutton has conceded that “mistakes” were made by “individuals” involved in the unlawful robodebt scheme, while warning against a “trial by media” on the findings of the royal commission.

At the Liberal National party’s state conference in Brisbane on Saturday, the federal opposition leader accused Labor of politicising the issue and referred to the government services minister, Bill Shorten, as a “political animal”.

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Senator says she has been ‘excluded’ from writing pamphlet – as it happened

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Patricia Karvelas challenges Littleproud’s Covid reasoning behind the Murray-Darling Basin delays on ABC RN this morning.

“This isn’t a new problem … Your government was in power when a 2019 Productivity Commission report warned that there had been limited progress returning the water to the environment,” she says. “Why didn’t you change course?”

This is a very technical piece of legislation … The 450 is additional to the 2,750 gigalitres of water in the plan, the Productivity Commission looked at the 450 gigalitres, there’s only been 2 gigalitres recovered on the 450 …

Because the neutrality test on social and economic impact on rural communities have not been passed to get more water back out of it – that’s a test the Labor government put in place, that we adhere to that the states agreed to.

He [is] going down a path that’s divided the country and meant that the attention has been taken away from managing people’s cost-of-living crisis, and focused on trying to win a referendum in which he has overreached in conflating a voice with constitutional recognition.

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AFR apologises for running voice no campaign ad featuring ‘racist trope’

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Newspaper publisher says ad ‘should not have run’ after federal independent MP Kate Chaney accuses no campaign of stoking ‘fear and hate’

The no campaign has been accused of using a “racist trope” in a newspaper ad which included a cartoon figure of an Indigenous voice campaigner appearing to dance for money.

Matt Kean, a New South Wales Liberal MP, lashed the Advance conservative lobby group for “a throwback to the Jim Crow era of the deep south”, saying the full-page ad in the Australian Financial Review had no place in Australian politics. A spokesperson for Nine, publisher of the AFR, later apologised and said the ad should never have run.

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Australia news live: Burney condemns ‘Trump-style’ voice politics; ‘well publicised’ matters referred to federal corruption watchdog

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Prime minister Anthony Albanese says he is “one of the millions of Australians” who welcomed the decision from the Reserve Bank yesterday, on Nine’s Today program this morning.

People are doing it tough out there … I am determined to work each and every day to provide whatever assistance the government can do. Whether that be the direct assistance in cheaper childcare, the tripling [of] the Medibank bulk billing incentive so people can see their doctor for free, or fee-free TAFE and all those measures to take pressure off cost-of-living.

As well, of course, managing the economy and producing a surplus in excess of $2.4bn to put that downward pressure on inflation.

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Pauline Hanson threatens to release anti-voice essay if shut out from official referendum pamphlet

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Exclusive: One Nation leader wants her input to be included for the no side as concern grows among some politicians their views may be left out

Pauline Hanson has threatened to send her own 2,000-word anti-voice essay to Australian voters unless a parliamentary committee includes her contributions in the official referendum pamphlet for the no side.

The so-called “progressive no” views of left-wing senator Lidia Thorpe may also end up excluded from the no essay, which will be authorised by a committee dominated by Coalition and conservative politicians.

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Thousands rally around Australia in support of voice despite polls suggesting decline in yes vote

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Peter Dutton, meanwhile, lashes companies supporting yes campaign saying they ‘lacked a significant backbone’

Thousands of people have turned out at rallies nationwide to back the Indigenous voice to parliament, with organisers hoping momentum will build despite recent polls showing a decline in the yes vote.

Welcome to country and smoking ceremonies kicked off Sunday’s day of action with the Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, addressing a crowd at the Brisbane Yes23 event.

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