Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

from 2012 at least but going back to when John Howard promised in 2007 to hold a referendum within 18 months of his election, based upon Indigenous recognition. The Leader of the Opposition has on a number of occasions said that it has been the policy of the Liberal Party since 2007 to have a referendum. If only they had been in a position to do so. They won in 2013, they won in 2016, they won in 2019, and nothing happened. What I did was fulfil the commitment that I gave to Indigenous people but, most importantly, that I gave to the Australian people at the election in which we were elected in May 2022.

Indigenous Australians asked for Australians to vote on Indigenous recognition in our Constitution through a voice. They invited us, in the words of the Uluru statement, to walk with them. They said, 'In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we want to be heard,'—that's what they said. We fulfilled that commitment, but the Deputy Leader of the Opposition would have you believe through asking that question that the people who have spent a lifetime campaigning for constitutional recognition of First Australians are understandably disappointed by the result.

Honourable memb ers interjecting—

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