Prime Minister calls for Voice support at final day of Labor conference

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on Labor members to campaign in support of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament like they “have never campaigned before”.

Transcript

00:00 The Labor's national conference has come to an end.

00:05 It's the last we'll hear of them for a few years.

00:07 The platform's settled and it's been an interesting few days, a few tweaks around the edges, but

00:12 no major surprises or upsets.

00:15 The largest point of contention being debate around the Orcus Defence Pact.

00:19 That's the one to acquire nuclear submarines in a deal with the United Kingdom and US.

00:26 That saw a little bit of activity, a bit of noise on the conference floor, but ultimately

00:30 an overwhelming support in favour of the Orcus deal.

00:34 And otherwise the party has been in furious agreement on most issues.

00:40 No issue more than the voice to parliament, which has been the talk today.

00:45 We've seen the Prime Minister get up, talking to Labor delegates as they prepare to head

00:51 back to their electorates for a referendum that's just a few weeks or potentially a few

00:56 months to come, revving up the crowd and saying this is the time, if not now when, some similar

01:03 refrains, but with a bit of energy hoping that they'll hit the ground running when they

01:07 go back home.

01:08 Let's have a little bit of a listen to what the PM told the Labor faithful.

01:14 We joined the Labor Party to scale the peaks.

01:18 This is not a journey that began with us, but it is a journey we have been given the

01:25 great privilege of joining.

01:28 All of you here in this room and across the great breadth of our movement have put up

01:35 your hand and shown your willingness to get involved, to walk the talk, to make a difference.

01:44 I want you to get out there and campaign like you have never campaigned before.

01:54 Obviously this has been a campaign going on for some months now formally, but we're starting

01:59 to see that ramp up.

02:01 The PM himself described today as an opportunity to mobilise the Labor rank and file.

02:09 They're heading home with the referendum official pamphlet about to hit people's doorsteps already

02:15 printed with the formal arguments for and against the voice made by parliamentarians.

02:21 With that campaign now just a matter of probably two months away, the Labor Party is starting

02:27 to shift gears into some kind of formal campaign, a little bit like the election campaign they

02:33 won just a year ago.

02:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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