Category Archives: Noel Pearson

‘Don’t slam the door on the children’: Noel Pearson makes final pitch on voice referendum

Posted on by

Australia will find it almost impossible to tackle racism if the vote is no, yes campaign leader says

Saturday’s referendum vote will be the only chance Australia will have to tackle racism and guarantee a better future for Aboriginal children, leading yes campaigner Noel Pearson has said.

In his final pitch to undecided voters, Pearson said the voice was the culmination of decades of struggle by leaders before him, adding he did not want to pass that burden to the next generation.

Continue reading...

A no vote will ‘bring shame upon us’ and signal reconciliation is no longer viable, Noel Pearson says

Posted on by

In a late plea for a yes vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, the respected leader says he fears ‘for the future of my people’ if it is defeated

Noel Pearson says he will walk away from advocating for a “middle path” of compromise if the voice to parliament referendum fails, claiming reconciliation would not be viable in the event of a no vote.

The longtime Indigenous activist and respected community leader says he would instead allow a new generation of Indigenous leaders to chart a different path forward.

Pearson said he fears “for the future of my people” if the referendum is defeated on Saturday, making a late plea for voters to vote yes in recognition of Australia’s history and avoid a failure he says would be “ugly as sin”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Jacinta Allan expected to become new premier of Victoria after Dan Andrews resigns; Tesla battery storage fire in Queensland

Posted on by

Bill Shorten says Allan is a ‘leader in her own right’; rule quirk means Labor may have acting premier

Andrews’ handling of pandemic ‘a legacy of his strength’, Bill Shorten says

NDIS minister and former Labor leader Bill Shorten has spoken highly of outgoing Victorian premier Daniel Andrews while speaking to ABC RN this morning.

I think the pandemic was the most unusual period in Victoria … and I think that we were learning a lot as we went along during that.

When I think back to those first few days, in March 2020, I think the aim was to ensure that we had enough hospital space to be able to treat people if they got very sick, and that required, I think, a high degree of central leadership.

Police will continue to monitor the situation as there are a large number of batteries on site … Nearby residents are urged to monitor [social media] and be prepared for police to door-knock homes in the area if the situation worsens.

Continue reading...

Coalition’s second referendum plan a ‘mirage’, Noel Pearson says

Posted on by

Indigenous leader dismisses Peter Dutton’s proposal and urges Australians to back coming vote as a chance to settle ‘unfinished business’

Cape York leader Noel Pearson believes the Coalition would never hold another referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition if next month’s vote on the voice fails, saying plan is a “mirage” and pointing to internal opposition confusion.

Pearson has urged Australians to back the current referendum as a chance to settle “unfinished business”, expressing confidence the vote would succeed despite slipping support in opinion polls.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Noel Pearson says Indigenous voice is not about ‘party politics’ and will cut wasteful spending

Posted on by

Pearson says referendum is not a competition ‘between blue and red’ after Anthony Albanese’s Garma festival speech

The prime minister’s Garma speech was the “unequivocal” support for an Indigenous voice to parliament of an Australian leader, not a party politician, the Cape York leader, leading “yes” campaigner and Guugu-Yimithirr lawyer Noel Pearson has said.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Saturday that he would not defer or delay the referendum, and dismissed “no” campaigners as being “desperate to talk about anything but the actual question”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Noel Pearson urges voters to ‘let go of your political party affiliations’ and vote yes for Indigenous voice

Posted on by

Yes campaigners will target Liberal, National and teal voters ahead of the referendum

Liberal, National and teal voters across New South Wales will be targeted by campaigners for the Indigenous voice to parliament, as its biggest advocates urge voters against following party politics on the issue.

Advocates will push the values underpinning the proposal and the need to listen to Indigenous people over political leaders for the next three months, after polling suggested support had softened.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Original voice bill wording to stay as Noel Pearson calls Mick Gooda a ‘bedwetter’ over proposed change

Posted on by

Former human rights commissioner suggested Indigenous leaders should consider ‘compromise’ to improve referendum’s chance

Calls to change the wording of the Indigenous voice amendment have been shot down by key Indigenous leaders of the government’s expert working groups, with Noel Pearson dismissing former human rights commissioner Mick Gooda on ABC radio as “foolish” and a “bedwetter” for suggesting an eleventh-hour alteration.

Guardian Australia understands the Albanese government doesn’t plan to amend the proposed constitutional amendment ahead of it being debated in parliament on Monday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Noel Pearson warns of ‘almost endless protest’ if Indigenous voice referendum fails

Posted on by

Pearson says reconciliation efforts would be ‘dead’ if the proposal is rejected, while a yes vote would have ‘tectonic’ positive change

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson has called Tony Abbott’s calls to scrap the voice to parliament “absurd”, claiming the proposal has been examined longer than any other public policy idea, and warning that a no vote could lead to a future of “almost endless protest”.

Pearson, an architect of the voice, said on Monday that he feared reconciliation efforts would be “dead” if the referendum failed and predicted years of protests if the voice was rejected. By contrast, a yes vote would have “tectonic” positive change for the nation, he said.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

MP calls for action on crime in ‘under siege’ town – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed

Pearson urges voice dissenters to ‘be smart’

Karvelas also asks Pearson about the concerns that are coming from the left, including Indigenous affairs spokesperson for the Greens, Lidia Thorpe, who will be calling for treaty before voice at the Invasion Day rally.

And when you have a breakthrough response, a breakthrough response like constitutional recognition, you’ve got to grab it. You’ve got to switch from protest to grabbing the opportunity.

… And I believe that a full response to the Uluru statement will achieve actual real reconciliation. We’re at a point in our history where the protest has achieved the result we desire. And, and so we’ve got to be smart about it.

This this year is the most important here in the past 235. That’s my assertion. This is the most important year and and this referendum is the most important question concerning Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians since the first fleet.

We’ve got to understand what is at stake, and that is the chance for reconciliation and if the referendum is kiboshed through game play and spoiling game by the opposition, we will lose the opportunity forever.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Dutton says Coalition won’t support motion to censure Morrison – but Archer says she is ‘inclined to’

Posted on by

The censure motion against Scott Morrison over multiple ministries scandal will be debated in House of Representatives tomorrow. Follow the day’s news live

Bipartisanship cedes to brinkmanship in battle over integrity commission

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus is preparing to stare down the Liberals and the Greens over an amendment to the national anti-corruption commission legislation which Dreyfus says risks establishing the commission and the Liberals and Greens say will ensure it won’t be political.

Continue reading...

David Littleproud is a ‘kindergarten kid’ whose Nationals will be ‘left behind’ on voice, Noel Pearson says

Posted on by

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price caught in a ‘tragic redneck celebrity vortex’ and ‘punching down on other Blackfellas’, Cape York leader says

The Cape York leader Noel Pearson has called the National party leader, David Littleproud, a “kindergarten kid” whose party is in danger of being “left behind in history” after it decided to oppose an Indigenous voice to parliament.

In a blistering interview with ABC radio on Tuesday, Pearson also accused the Northern Territory Country Liberal party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price of being drawn into a “a tragic redneck celebrity vortex”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Australia news live: Noel Pearson says ‘racism will diminish’ with Indigenous recognition; energy ministers to look at gas price cap

Posted on by

In his Boyer lecture, Pearson said Australia’s ‘terrible ideology of the denial of recognition’ needs to end. Follow the day’s news live

Perrottet calls for greater infrastructure funding

Perrottet also used the press conference to call for greater infrastructure funding for NSW from the federal government, as he has done many times in recent weeks.

There are other states who aren’t doing the heavy lifting, and I say to them, start building as much as we are in our great state.

We should continue to get more funding from a commonwealth government. I’m always going to stand up for the people of NSW.

Continue reading...