Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has clashed with 2GB’s breakfast star Ben Fordham on the Indigenous voice referendum.
In the 38-minute grilling, Albanese spoke to Fordham on a number of issues including the Commonwealth Games being canceled, the cost-of-living crisis and notably The Voice.
Fordham repeatedly asked Albanese why the government was not legislating the voice and putting the constitution out to vote. Fordham described this as a “win-win” situation. By tying the two together, however, Fordham said he risked a “lose-lose” situation and put the future of Indigenous Australians at risk.
Albanese defended himself, saying that the Uluru Statement from the Heart Indigenous Australians asked for the voice to go into the constitution. He said that nobody is asking to change the bill to shift towards recognition without the voice being in place.
The discussion began to get fiery with Albanese saying that discussion of Indigenous Australians getting special rights “ignores that this is the most disadvantaged group”.
When Fordham quoted architect of the ‘Yes’ campaign Megan Davis, Albanese said that the quotes he was using were from the No pamphlet.
To which Fordham hit back, saying they were his own questions and were written down in front of him.
The Prime Minister ruled out compensation for Indigenous Australians, moving the date of Australia Day and the voice making representatives to the reserve bank.
Albanese told Fordham that he also had responsibility: “You have a responsibility as well … You need to not raise red herrings”.
When Fordham asked Albanese not to risk it, he responded:
Fordham urged Albanese not to “risk it”, he said: “I’m not risking it. What I’m doing is supporting recognition, supporting recognition in a way that will make a practical difference. We need better outcomes. We can’t just be doing things the same way and expect different results. That’s the definition of being … dumb. If we just keep doing things the same way, we need to do things better, we need to listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them”.
You can listen to the full interview here.
