In a major announcement, the Prime Minister will unveil a draft question that Australians could be asked during a referendum to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Anthony Albanese will make his first significant address to Aboriginal communities at the Garma Festival in the Northern Territory's north-east Arnhem Land this weekend.
On Saturday, he will tell a crowd of thousands at the festival that the country is ready for constitutional reform that is momentous, yet also "very simple".
The Prime Minister will pledge to settle "as soon as possible" on the referendum question that will be put to the people of Australia.
The question the government has drafted is:
"Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?"
Mr Albanese foreshadowed the announcement during Garma's opening ceremony, telling the crowd it was a privilege to live alongside the world's oldest continuing civilisation.
"We should cherish it. We should be proud of it. We should celebrate it and we should recognise it in our national birth certificate," he said.
"We will walk on that journey and, together, we will get this done."
Pressure has been mounting on Mr Albanese to take practical steps to deliver on his election pledge to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart and hold a referendum on a voice to parliament within two years.
Proposed wording for constitutional reform revealed
The statement called for an enshrined national Indigenous advisory body to advise the federal parliament on laws and policies affecting First Nations people, along with a national commission to oversee treaty negotiations.
Just eight out of 44 referenda have been successful in Australia, and the phrasing of the question is likely to be central to the vote's success.
On Saturday, Mr Albanese will signal his intention to put forward a proposal for a voice that would be an "unflinching source of advice".
He will also reveal the proposed wording for three sentences to be added to the nation's founding document:
- 1.There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
- 2.The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- 3.The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
According to the government, the draft provisions are not final and will provide the basis for further consultation.
The government is not yet expected to set a date for the referendum, but has previously indicated it could be held as soon as next year.
Authors of the Uluru Statement from the Heart have pushed for a referendum in May 2023 or January 2024.
Mr Albanese has travelled to Garma with Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and Senator Pat Dodson, the Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Julian Leeser is also attending, amid reports of growing opposition to a referendum within the Liberal Party that could derail the government's push for bipartisan support.
In her maiden speech this week, Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price described the voice as a "symbolic gesture" that risked dividing the country along racial lines, reportedly sowing doubt among some of her conservative colleagues.
In a scathing rebuke on Friday, Professor Marcia Langton accused critics who claimed the proposal was racially divisive of "reverting to colonial ideas in a bid to scuttle a very simple and elegant way to ensure that Indigenous peoples' voices are heard".
The Albanese government will not only need to win support from his parliamentary counterparts, but also from sections of the Indigenous community who want to prioritise a treaty, or who believe the voice is a symbolic gesture that will not deliver tangible change on pressing issues such as domestic and family violence.
'We can do both — and we have to'
In a transcript of the Prime Minister's speech due to be delivered in Arnhem Land, Mr Albanese will seek to address these views:
"Australia does not have to choose between improving peoples' lives and amending the constitution," Mr Albanese is to say.
"We can do both — and we have to."
The Garma Festival has historically provided a space for cultural leaders and political heavyweights to dissect some of the most-pressing and contentious issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
This year's gathering marks five years since the Uluru Statement from the Heart was released.
Festival director Denise Bowden said it was time to move beyond the rhetoric: "It's really important that we don't leave Garma without some progress."
"I sense the generosity is wearing a little thin," she noted.
