good morning☀️happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders and live from Garma on Yolngu lands are ABC Indigenous Affairs editor Bridget Brennan, Guardian Indigenous affairs editor Lorena Allam, and QandA host Stan Grant. The interview is with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
the show opens with a Welcome from Jarwu Yunupingu in Yolngu and English, who asks the audience to spread their culture from Garma. #Insiders
opening spiel is that it has “also” been a big week with the first sitting week of the new Parliament. The montage is politicians and journo claims, mostly about the 43% emissions reduction being legislated and the inflation rate. #Insiders
Bandt on expanding fossil fuel extraction gets two slots. Some scary graphics on inflation and searing commentary from Probyn - apparently Treasurers say political things. #Insiders
they are at Garma with three Aboriginal panellists but we are opening with David chatting to Andrew about reported future inflation rates anyway. #Insiders
speculating about future broken promises reports he will be filing about inflation rates and real wages, on the mess the Coalition created which, according to Andrew, Labor can not keep blaming because someone will think that will wears thin. Soon. #Insiders
plenty going on says Speers excitedly about speculative inflation wages promises energy prices commentary by press gallery journalists, and he gets around to the announcement Albanese made yesterday about a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament. #Insiders
clips of dancers and the philosophy of Garma being where salt water and freshwater people come together explained by Mayatilli Marika. Yothu Yindi director Denise Bowden says there could be something more than an advisory-only body. #Insiders
the panel review the PM speech. Brennan sets out process, from the speech and draft question and sentences to the referendum; Allam says there is a surprising level of detail for a 9-week old government. #Insiders
it is clear the proposition is for the parliament to “retain” sovereignty, Speers puts to Grant, who asks how the many voices of First Nations will be accommodated in the Voice singular. He quotes “a Voice not a veto” and other assurances Albanese gave yo the doubters. #Insiders
how much can a referendum die in the detail, asks Grant, and harks back to the failed 1999 Republic vote. Brennan says she gets the sense they are trying to limit detail because of likely No campaigners strategy. #Insiders
[the PM might think] is it an easier sell to say look it is a Voice we will work it out later, says Brennan, and she says it would be more respectful to set out detail. With Treaty negotiations people have shown they want to negotiate as nations, not as a state-Brennan. #Insiders
there needs to be room for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to debate the detail, says Brennan, and says treating first Peoples as a homogenous group causes failures. #Insiders
interview. Albanese repeats the manners line and cites respect and also oldest living cultures in the world are a point of pride “we should be proud” and also re-asserts the “primacy” of the parliament. He means assertion of sovereignty by the crown. #Insiders
people will wonder why we did not do it before, says Albanese, and draws a parallel with the Apology and with Native Title. He says there are hard working people who have worked on the detail. #Insiders
the wording is almost an exact mirror of that initially proposed by Professor Megan Davis, Senator Pat Dodson, Aunty Pat Anderson, Noel Pearson? I think that was the question. Albanese talks about the expert ref group over the last ten years. #Insiders
there is a risk of not going forward, says Albanese. There will be discussion about what the Voice will look like, says Albanese. It’s final firm will be accountable to the Parliament, like other laws, he says. It may be that these s function does change. #Insiders
the No campaign will say “if you don’t know, Vote No” says Speers. The PM response is that they are learning from history and the republic referendum. Every detail “is not a recipe for success”. Practical outcomes is a key message from the PM. #Insiders
there will be debate, says Albanese. Will you enter the debate tho? says Speers. There is plenty of detail in the Langton-Calma design, says Albanese. But will you support that model? asks Speers. #Insiders
will it be representative? He did not come up with the wording himself, Albanese explains. That detail will come after the referendum? asks Speers. Albanese says the Voice will operate as a circuit breaker not “above” the parliament. #Insiders
the problem with this interview is Speers assumes the PM should have all the answers - for media to shape - and Albanese will not answer every query without consulting, especially with the Black caucus. #Insiders
look around you, says Albanese. This is not about two white blokes talking. He says First Nations people want the common courtesy of being asked and listened to. #Insiders
practical outcomes again, to wrap. Speers says to Allam that the PM is clearly going for that “higher principle”. Allam says he has made the big announcement and now he has to convince people. She says appealing to the nations future - a noble thing to do. #Insiders
Allam notes the repeated reference to “good manners” and who Albanese is appealing to with this line - people as yet not engaged with the process and the question. Speers asks Brennan about the good manners line too but I missed most of her answer sorry #Insiders
Speers chats about seeing QandA recorded at Garma last night for a bit and plays a clip of Minister Burney saying it would be “nuts” to not hold the referendum. Grant says “there was a process” and briefly describes the Dialogues and Convention. #Insiders
in our community elders have cultural authority, says Grant. He says his father would have the standing as a Wiradjuri elder, for example. Speers asks Allam how the ATSIC (abolished by Howard) representation operated. #Insiders
people enrolled and voted for ATSIC reps, explains Allam, and says that it was self-determining. It had funding and decision making authority, which the Voice will not have, but Albanese has said it will be a self-determining body - Allam. #Insiders
maybe there is merit in really finessing it so it can be as effective a body as it can be, says Brennan, on the Voice. Speers moves on to the Opposition, claiming the LOTO is “open” to something, I missed what. #Insiders
the claim that the Coalition spokesman, Julian Leeser, has “welcomed” the release of draft wording keeps being reiterated, but the clip of Leeser speaking at Garma is all “holding pattern”, as Speers calls it. The “more detail” routine. #Insiders
dates. Is January 2024 too close to the next election, or there is the 67 referendum anniversary is that too soon. You are only going to run it when you can win it, says Speers. #Insiders
Professor Megan Davis, one of the authors of the Uluṟu Statement, frequently makes the point, says Brennan, that it has been over 20 years since a referendum and that was pre-social media. You do not necessarily need bipartisanship #Insiders
research by The Australia Institute shows overwhelming support and a very low No vote. #Insiders 
tributes to Uncle Archie Roach. Grant tells a campfire song story. Allam says he was a voice and he gave and gave and gave - he kept singing that song “for all of us” - and he is a truth teller. Brennan says he is with Ruby now, one of the greatest love stories #Insiders
the show wraps with a local tribute to Uncle Archie Roach. It is a message of unity, sharing, the dream, and healing.
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