Indigenous Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy is urging Opposition counterpart Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to sit down with her one year after the defeat of the Voice to Parliament referendum and restart the reconciliation process. Source: The Australian.
In an impassioned plea on the anniversary of the referendum that divided the nation and Indigenous leadership, Senator McCarthy has vowed to find practical ways of closing the gap.
But after Senator Nampijinpa Price on Saturday lashed Labor’s failure to set out a clear vision for improving Aboriginal lives in the wake of the defeat of the Voice, the Indigenous Australians Minister claimed Senator Nampijinpa Price failed to accept numerous invitations to meet with her and discuss the Closing The Gap National Agreement to reduce disparity by 2031.
“If we want to end this disadvantage once and for all, we need to work differently,” Senator McCarthy writes in The Australian today.
“I remain proud that the Albanese Government delivered on Anthony Albanese’s election night commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and our promise to First Nations people to take the Voice to a referendum.”
Senator McCarthy, who took over from Linda Burney in July, said her focus was on improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians across health, education, jobs, housing and justice.
She said on Sunday she still wanted to sit down with Senator Nampijinpa Price and avoid the weaponisation of Aboriginal policy.
Senator Nampijinpa Price yesterday challenged the minister’s assertions that she was not willing to sit down with her. She said she last met with Senator McCarthy in September and that “any and all meetings held with the minister have resulted in no progress”.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton yesterday said Mr Albanese had wasted 18 months and $450 million talking down to people but Australians who voted No “saved our country from permanent division”.
FULL STORY
Malarndirri McCarthy’s Voice anniversary message to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price: ‘Let’s sit down’ (By Paige Taylor, The Australian)
