What we learned: Monday, 13 February.
With that, we will wrap the blog for the evening.
Here were the major developments of the day – the fifteenth anniversary of the national apology to the Stolen Generations
Anthony Albanese used his speech to argue for the referendum as the next stage in Australia’s reconciliation process.
The opposition leader Peter Dutton expressed regret for boycotting the apology as part of his response to the Closing the Gap implementation report, saying he “failed to grasp the significance” of the day.
Foreign minister, Penny Wong, has claimed the former Coalition government “stuffed this market” in a discussion about Australia’s energy system, as she and Senate sparring partner Simon Birmingham took their positions again in estimates.
The home affairs department secretary, Michael Pezzullo has issued an apology to the government over the failure to renew the instrument designating Nauru as a regional processing country. Pezzullo said that the Nauru instrument sunsetting was first mentioned in a list in January 2021 of regulations that would lapse, but the department “failed to monitor and track” it.
And Dutton used the start of Question Time to ask the prime minister whether his election commitment to allow people on temporary protection and safe haven visas to apply for permanent residency would lead to an increase in “people smuggling arrivals”.
Burney tells new cross-parliamentary group of the ‘magic’ of voice referendum
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, says a yes vote in the voice to parliament referendum would lead to “unifying us in a way that’s never been done before”, urging supporters to back the campaign in a speech to a cross-parliamentary group boosting the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Labor MP Gordon Reid, Liberal MP Bridget Archer and crossbencher Allegra Spender are co-chairs of the new parliamentary Friends of the Uluru Statement group, launched tonight at Parliament House. A wide range of politicians attended, including a large number of Labor MPs but also Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Liberal MP Jenny Ware, and independents Kate Chaney and Helen Haines. Julian Leeser, shadow Indigenous Australians minister, arrived a little later after a shadow cabinet meeting
The group heard speeches from Burney, special envoy on the Uluru Statement, Pat Dodson, and yes campaign spokespeople Dean Parkin and Thomas Mayo.
Great to be in Canberra for the launch of the Parliamentary Friends of the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart.
— From The Heart (@fromtheheartau) February 13, 2023
It’s positive to see multi partisan support for the campaign, with Liberal MP Bridget Archer, Labor MP Gordon Reid and Independent Allegra Spender co-chairing the group. pic.twitter.com/B77Sf722wO
Burney thanked the cross-party group of supporters “from the bottom of my heart”.
First Nations people will be recognised in our nation’s birth certificate. And when that happens, imagine the Sunday morning after a successful referendum. We’ll probably wake up very early and feel very different, because this country will be different.
It will be a nation that has finally recognised, it will be a nation where everyone will feel part of that change. That’s the magic of this referendum.
Dodson said he believed Australians had “a knack for being generous and transformative when it counts” in big moments.
“We’re faced with another big moment. I’ve seen a few moments come and go and be lost,” he said, calling the Uluru statement and the voice concept “generous”.
Spender said she experienced “shivers” when hearing the Uluru Statement read aloud. Archer said it was “an easy yes” for her to accept a co-chair position with the group, saying it was “incumbent” on MPs to meet the Uluru Statement “in the spirit it’s given”.
I commit to walking with you to hopefully a brighter future this year.
The Liberal party is still to commit to a party room position on the voice. In a speech today, Opposition leader Peter Dutton said those questioning the Indigenous voice to parliament were “not hardhearted”.
Updated
