Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Senator Jacinta Price says she’s pleased the party is united in supporting the 'No Campaign' for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament

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Senator Jacinta Price says she’s pleased the party is united in supporting the 'No Campaign' for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We also know that over the course of the weekend well,
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  Speaker 1: the COLP held the Central Council meeting and members voted
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  Speaker 1: to back the No campaign in the upcoming referendum on
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  Speaker 1: an Indigenous voice to Parliament. The move has been welcome
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  Speaker 1: by the colp's sole federal representative, Senator Jacinta Nama Jimpa Price,
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  Speaker 1: but it's not clear yet what the decision is going
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  Speaker 1: to mean for the colp's parliamentary leader, Leofanocchiaro, who last
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  Speaker 1: week said that she'd supported the voice in theory but
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  Speaker 1: did hold concerns about a lack of detail from the
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  Speaker 1: Federal Labor government. Now joining me on the line is
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  Speaker 1: Senator Price. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, good.
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  Speaker 1: To have you on the show. Now, Senator, what do
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  Speaker 1: you think about the decision by the party and what
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  Speaker 1: do you think it says to territory and is about
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  Speaker 1: the voice to Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm very pleased that the party has made a
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  Speaker 2: formal position on this particular issue because I think it's
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  Speaker 2: really one that's concerning for all Australians. Going forward in
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  Speaker 2: alteration to the Constitution is not a little thing to do.
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  Speaker 2: It's a huge matter and this proposal is, in our
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  Speaker 2: view as a party, undemocratic. It provides for not one
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  Speaker 2: vote for all Australians, but an extra vote for those
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  Speaker 2: who can identify as Indigenous, in a structure that we
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  Speaker 2: have no detail basically. So, look, I'm really pleased that
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  Speaker 2: the Party has stood up for territoriums on the basis
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  Speaker 2: that we see everybody as equal, We expect everybody to
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  Speaker 2: be treated as equal, and we expect our constitution to
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  Speaker 2: be color blind.
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  Speaker 1: I know the move obviously means that it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be an official party position. Why do you reckon that's
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  Speaker 1: an important move?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's an important motive to stand up,
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  Speaker 2: to be able to say no to something as divisive
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  Speaker 2: as a change to our constitution. Along the lines of this,
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  Speaker 2: along the lines of this proposal of the Voice, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's important for all Australians to stand up. If
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  Speaker 2: if you believe that this is the wrong thing to do,
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  Speaker 2: you should be able to stand up. And I feel
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  Speaker 2: that a lot of Australians have a lot of good
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  Speaker 2: will toward Indigenous Australians. They want what's best for us all,
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  Speaker 2: and they're very concerned about being called racist, you know,
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  Speaker 2: called a name or called out in some way for
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  Speaker 2: opposing something like this, which pretty much divides us along
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  Speaker 2: the lines of race. But this gives the opportunity for
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  Speaker 2: people to understand, you know, it's okay to stand up
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  Speaker 2: for equality in this country. You know, we teach our
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  Speaker 2: children to say no to strangers. Why is it so
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  Speaker 2: hard to be able to stand up and say no
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  Speaker 2: for something as devices as this.
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  Speaker 1: What if the government does come forward with that further information.
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  Speaker 1: What if they do come forward and you know, it
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  Speaker 1: makes it really clear that there is going to be
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  Speaker 1: greater representation for somewhere like the Northern territory for example,
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  Speaker 1: And it does seem as though it's going to be,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a good step. Would it make you kind
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  Speaker 1: of second guess it in any way?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the very first principle that I disagree with is
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  Speaker 2: dividing us along the lines of race. So I can't
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  Speaker 2: support any proposal that does that. Secondly, if we can
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  Speaker 2: see what the working group is going through at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: they can't decide the wording on what will go into
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  Speaker 2: the referend and what the change will be to the referendum.
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  Speaker 2: They can't decide on that right now. They can't decide
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  Speaker 2: on what the powers will be, whether they'll have power
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  Speaker 2: over the executive of the government, whether it's about the Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: And if you look at the current proposal, and we
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  Speaker 2: keep being told, you know, look at the work that
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  Speaker 2: Tom Kalmer and Marthea Langdon have done, and they've suggested
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  Speaker 2: in their report that there would only be two representatives
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  Speaker 2: from the Northern Territory, which is utterly ridiculous when thirty
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  Speaker 2: percent of our population is Indigenous and you have had
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  Speaker 2: such a large population of those who are nothing but
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  Speaker 2: just Indigenous, whose first language is not English, who are
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  Speaker 2: our most marginalized, but it proposes to have three representatives
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  Speaker 2: from somewhere like the I just it's ridiculous already, and
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  Speaker 2: it's inequality and what they regard as you know, their
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  Speaker 2: concepts so far as all over the place. It's undetermined,
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  Speaker 2: And to be honest, I don't think we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see any detail because we've been told we're not going
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  Speaker 2: to that it's going to be the Parliament that makes
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  Speaker 2: those decisions to ultimately, ultimately it's a trojan horse that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to deliver and they expect Australians to vote
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  Speaker 2: yes for.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Senator what do you think this is going to mean.
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  Speaker 1: I guess it's unclear at this point in time what
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  Speaker 1: it will mean, you know with the parliamentary wing of
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  Speaker 1: the CLP and what exactly they're going to do. But
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  Speaker 1: do you think that it's going to be difficult for
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  Speaker 1: some of the Bush members of the CLP, Like are
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  Speaker 1: you concerned that it might have a negative impact on
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  Speaker 1: seats like the ones held by Bill Yan and Steve
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  Speaker 1: Edgington with the CLP taking this approach, I mean, there's
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  Speaker 1: no doubt that Labor is going to sell that to
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  Speaker 1: the Bush as as the CLP not listening to Indigenous people.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think if you know, people in our towns
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  Speaker 2: and centers don't have a clue what the voice is
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  Speaker 2: so far, the Bush certainly don't have a clue as
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  Speaker 2: to what the voice is so far. It's an issue
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  Speaker 2: that is far from anyone's concerned in the Bush because
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  Speaker 2: they're concerned about their day to day lives. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there's people who are struggling out in communities as they
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  Speaker 2: have no idea what this concept is and there is
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  Speaker 2: no evidence to suggest that this particular issue is going
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  Speaker 2: to have such an impact on a future election. You know,
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  Speaker 2: by the time twenty twenty four comes around, will have
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  Speaker 2: had the result of the referendum, so it'll be a
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  Speaker 2: different set of circumstances to deal with at that stage.
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  Speaker 2: I understand that there's a by election coming up, but
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  Speaker 2: there is no evidence to suggest that people are concerned
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  Speaker 2: with this particular issue out Bush unless Labor running around
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  Speaker 2: telling a whole bunch of you know, FIBs, which is
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  Speaker 2: what they're known to do out in communities to garner votes.
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  Speaker 2: So the focus is what can who can leave this
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  Speaker 2: part who can leave the territory better? The Labor government
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  Speaker 2: have demonstrated that they have been ruining the territory NonStop,
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  Speaker 2: and voters need to consider very fusely when they go
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  Speaker 2: to the ballot, who's the party that's going to be
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  Speaker 2: able to get us out of this horrible mess that
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  Speaker 2: we're currently in because Labor keeps digging a hole for
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  Speaker 2: us and only the COLP can fix that.
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  Speaker 1: Have you spoken to the CLP, to the opposition leader
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  Speaker 1: Leofanochio about the situation since that vote happened on the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I've had I've had conversations with members of
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  Speaker 2: the parliamentary wing about my position on it ultimately, And
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  Speaker 2: what I have expressed also is the fact that you know,
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  Speaker 2: as a party, we must leave with the values of
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  Speaker 2: our party. That's you know, our party who put us
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  Speaker 2: there in the first place. They carry the values, they
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  Speaker 2: established the road for us to walk, to go forward with,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what we have to That's what we have
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  Speaker 2: to represent.
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  Speaker 1: So it doesn't sound as though you and her have
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  Speaker 1: sort of sat down and had a discussion about it
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  Speaker 1: and what it's going to mean moving forward for the party.
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  Speaker 2: Look, we've had plenty of discussions about issues that are
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  Speaker 2: that are of concern, that have come up, that are
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  Speaker 2: relevant in terms of policy, and they're the sorts of
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  Speaker 2: things will continue to discuss going forward to be able
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  Speaker 2: to support the Northern territory.
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  Speaker 1: So I suppose what I'm getting to is, do you
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  Speaker 1: think that Labor are going to kind of wedge some
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  Speaker 1: of those seats and essentially say to voters that we're
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  Speaker 1: a party that supports Aboriginal people having a voice and
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  Speaker 1: the COLP aren't. And you know, is it going to
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  Speaker 1: is it going to impact those seats that are held
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  Speaker 1: currently by the CLP in the Bush.
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  Speaker 2: I think the Labor can say all they want, but
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  Speaker 2: they've demonstrated that they don't listen to Aboriginal voices because
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  Speaker 2: they didn't listen to my voice, they didn't listen to
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  Speaker 2: Marion Scrimger's voice, and we ended up with a disaster
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  Speaker 2: in our springs. It's still disastrous there. So they can
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  Speaker 2: say whatever they want, but their actions prove otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Now separately, we know the Country Liberal Party has endorsed
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  Speaker 1: Deputy Mayor of the Tiwi Islands Regional Council Leslie Tonguan Tullam.
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  Speaker 1: I apologize if I've pronounced that incorrectly as the candidate
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  Speaker 1: for the ARA for you're a by election. A good
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  Speaker 1: candidate from your perspective.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, You know, Leslie brings a legacy with him being
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  Speaker 2: selected because as we know, Leslie's father, Hyacinth Tunnel Tullam,
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  Speaker 2: was the first ever Indigenous person to be elected to
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  Speaker 2: any parliament around the country and was elected in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: seventy four as the Country Liberal Party member at the time.
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  Speaker 2: And so I'm very proud of the fact that Leslie
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  Speaker 2: has been pre selected. I've got some wonderful family connections
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  Speaker 2: to the Tiwi people and certainly with Leslie as well,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm really pleased at the candidate that we've selected
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  Speaker 2: going forward and the legacy that Leslie brings with him.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be interesting. It's certainly going to
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  Speaker 1: be an interesting race that by election. Jacinta. Just one
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  Speaker 1: last question that's come through from a listener asking, can
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  Speaker 1: you please ask Jacinta, why are you deliberately attacking Leah
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  Speaker 1: on the Voice to Parliament?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I certainly haven't attacked anybody other than Labor when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to the issue of the Voice to Parliament.
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  Speaker 2: That's certainly not what's happened.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a divide between the parliamentary wing and the
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  Speaker 1: party on this? Do you reckon though?
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  Speaker 2: Well? I think people need to come to their own
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  Speaker 2: ideological thinking when it comes to this particular matter. I
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  Speaker 2: mean I've certainly when it comes to my party, I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't have taken a position I wouldn't have taken if
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  Speaker 2: I'd known that the sense within my party, within my
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  Speaker 2: members of the COLP, was that they did support a
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  Speaker 2: voice And ultimately I've known for some time with my
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  Speaker 2: dealings that that has not been the case. That we
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  Speaker 2: don't like to see the territory divided along the lines
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  Speaker 2: of race. We do believe in equality and also I've
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  Speaker 2: spoken to many many Indigenous territories who are deeply concerned
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  Speaker 2: about this particular issue, and so that's where I've taken
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  Speaker 2: my lead from, if you like, and will continue to
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  Speaker 2: go forward on well.
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  Speaker 1: Jacina nama Jinpa Price, the Senator for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 1: We always appreciate your time. Thanks for having a chat
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you,