Seven months have passed since Australians voted 'No' to the Albanese government's 'voice' referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians and to create an advisory body to the parliament. It's a shadow that looms large over this year's 'Reconciliation week'. Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney sat down with afternoon briefing's Greg Jennet moments ago.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 I understand that people have mixed feelings about reconciliation at the moment. I also
00:07 acknowledge that people are still very much feeling the outcomes of the referendum. Reconciliation
00:18 to me is not a destination, it's a journey. And Reconciliation Week is a journey. It's
00:30 so important to remind people of the importance of reconciliation, of the importance of truth
00:37 telling, of the importance of working together. I've been to a number of reconciliation events
00:45 this week. I was at the Cooda Girls gathering in Sydney on National Sorry Day last Sunday.
00:56 And the generosity of those people that were actually victims of the Stolen Generation
01:03 and their commitment to reconciliation and working together and understanding each other
01:12 is astounding. I also went to Michael Long's Long Walk where there were thousands of Australians
01:25 gathered in the spirit of reconciliation. And then last night here at the Parliament
01:31 we had the illumination of Parliament and there were so many members of Parliament and
01:37 the broader community here to see Parliament House lit up in an Aboriginal artist's design.
01:44 I'm sure it still attracts lots of support and certainly at the events that you attend.
01:51 We spoke to your former colleague and predecessor on the program this week, Ken Wyatt, who I
01:56 think it's fair to say came across quite deflated about the lingering effects after the voice
02:03 vote. Stagnation he called it, but he was also pessimistic about initiatives, new ideas,
02:10 new policies on closing the gap between now and the next election. He was pretty frank
02:16 about it. What he said is those who oppose the voice are unlikely to support governments
02:22 pandering his words to a small minority. Look, I am good friends with Ken and I respect
02:29 him deeply, but on this one I respectfully disagree. The efforts, the investments that
02:40 my government has made in terms of closing the gap in the last budget and the budget
02:46 before are unprecedented. $4 billion into housing in the Northern Territory, $40 million
02:53 in Central Australia for learning on country in the education arena, doubling the number
03:03 of Indigenous rangers to 3,800, investments in renal dialysis machines, investments in
03:10 a justice reinvestment, 3,000 new real jobs in remote Australia. That's where my focus
03:21 is and that's what we are delivering as we speak.
03:26 [BLANK_AUDIO]