Linda Burney reflects on voice vote seven months on

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

Transcript

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]

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