Noel Pearson says Indigenous voice is not about ‘party politics’ and will cut wasteful spending

Indigenous voice ‘yes’ campaigner Noel Pearson, who spoke at the Garma festival, says the recent parliamentary debate about potential future treaties was ‘just another example of making politics’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The prime minister’s Garma speech was the “unequivocal” support for an Indigenous voice to parliament of an Australian leader, not a party politician, the Cape York leader, leading “yes” campaigner and Guugu-Yimithirr lawyer Noel Pearson has said.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Saturday that he would not defer or delay the referendum, and dismissed “no” campaigners as being “desperate to talk about anything but the actual question”.