Leader of the National's David Littleproud post referendum result conference
Today is a historic day for our nation and The Nationals will respect whatever the decision is of the Australian people, but Australians shouldn't feel guilted to vote either yes or no. And there should be no guilt about the result that comes out tonight. This is a democratic process that the Australian people will determine. The Australian people always get it right and regardless, The Nationals will respect that decision. I'm proud of the way that The Nationals have set the tone in this debate.
We got to our principled position 11 months ago, and that was from our lived experience. This isn't a new proposition that the Prime Minister has put to us in the Voice. We've had a representative body before, and for us that represent rural and remote Australia, it's us that still bear the scars of that representative body.
That's where the gap hasn't been closed. And so if this was about Constitutional recognition, The Nationals would've signed up to that. And we'll still sign up to any constructive role that any government wants to play in that Constitutional recognition journey. But it has to be a proper one, and it has to have proper process of a Constitutional convention. We got to our position from our lived experience 11 months ago. The Nationals have set that tone based on the fact that this isn't a new proposition and that the representative body didn't work in our parts of the world. Because you've got to understand while here in Brisbane, a regional voice may be five or six suburbs, for me, in Western Queensland, it's hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, hundreds of different diverse communities that have different needs, different challenges. And it's important that we understand that we empower local Elders and that's how you close the gap where it hasn't been closed.
But please understand, as Australians, we have closed the gap in many parts of this country. It's not all doom and gloom. There is a generosity of spirit and there is a generosity of financial support. We just need to do that better. A better bureaucracy, not a bigger bureaucracy is the answer. So the other key tenet, the other key tenet that The Nationals got to why we couldn't support this Voice was one that is not just the founding value of The Nationals, but I believe of this nation, that we believe all 26 million of us are equal, no matter your race, no matter your religion, you get 227 voices in the Australian Parliament through the House of Representatives and through the Senate.
And proudly our nation has elected 11 Indigenous Australians, not to represent Indigenous Australians, but to represent us all. And so it was important that we understood that this was about a key tenet that has driven the success of our great nation, that The Nationals took.
But can I say to my good friend and who I've just spoken to, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and to Warren Mundine and to Kerrynne Liddle, thank you for your courage of your conviction. But can I also say to Dean Parker, who has led the Yes case, a great Australian as well, and he's come with this, with the right intent, as we have, and it's important, they matter. The result tonight that we work together is for the genuine intent of improving not just Indigenous Australians lives, but every Australian life. So I'm proud of The Nationals.
I'm proud of the leadership that we took in our position, but also in setting the tone, not only through the media but also through the pamphlet. We controlled the pamphlets. The Nationals are the ones who designed it and put in our case. So I'm proud of what we've done, but I'll accept the decision of the Australian people today. That's the great thing of living in this great country, our democracy. Thanks. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST
Mr Littleproud, a lot has been said during this debate about the efficiency with which funding is allocated to various Aboriginal communities and groups. From your experience from government, what was your sense of the problem in terms of those blockages?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, it's about Ministers and we've got to admit that we didn't get it right in every area. But understand that 97 per cent of Indigenous children now go to kindergarten, over $5 billion has gone into an Indigenous Procurement Program where they're employing tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians, doing great things, employing, new, young Indigenous Australians across the country. But where we have failed is about making sure that we get the bureaucrats out of Canberra. This is where we don't need a bigger bureaucracy, we need a better one.
We need a 2023 intervention. That intervention needs to be in Canberra and getting them out of Canberra and getting them around campfires and town halls, listening to local elders. because if you empower those local Elders in those remote areas, then you change the lives. That's how you close the gap. And Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Kerrynne Liddle have tried to get this government to also listen to them about their lived experience, about asking for an inquiry into where that money has being spent. Because there are KPIs about where it's being spent. It's a privilege to get Australian taxpayers money and it's important we understand where it goes.
We know to the postcode where the disadvantage is, so why wouldn't we make sure that that money's spent wisely? And so this government has an opportunity to take our hand, no matter the result tonight, to take our hand and open the books up and to work better and smarter with the Australian taxpayers money to change the lives of Indigenous Australians.
JOURNALIST
A lot has been said about how this campaign was the staged, while there has been a diversion to other issues that are affecting Australia, in particular economic hardship. It's that too cynical?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Look, sadly, all Anthony Albanese has been able to do in 16 months is drive up everyone's cost of living and divide the nation. This now needs to be a pivotal moment for him, to make sure he's focusing and what is hurting Australians out there is their cost of living. And unfortunately when you see inflation numbers still high, the reason they're still high is that, and they're not coming back as far, is because discretionary spending's stopping, but fixed spending's still there. People's food and electricity bills are still going up because of their ideology. Ideology doesn't pay the bills, it doesn't meet the practical reality of how Australians at feeling at the moment.
And unfortunately, the Prime Minister has been distracted with this, rather than focusing on what's being bled out of Australians’ wallets. So it's important that this government focuses on what's important to Australians, that we take this decision, we move forward collectively in the best way we can.
And political leadership is going to be important. And I put my hand up, as I did in November, not to throw barbs, but to actually be there as a constructive force in politics in this country. That's what Australians want. They want leadership, they want courage of the leadership and they expect their political leaders to give that. I'm prepared as a leader of The Nationals to continue that journey that we've shown better than any other political party in this country, I believe for the last 16 months. But it's time for the Prime Minister to get on with the job.
JOURNALIST
We've seen the political leaders of all persuasions at a state level stand alongside rural fire service Commissioners and talk about the bushfire threat and global warming. We saw Mr Albanese go down to the New South Wales South coast 10 days ago as soon as the fire started. Do you fear perhaps that as soon as this Referendum's finished, given all the speculation about the tinderbox conditions while on the east coast, that the Prime Minister perhaps will be using that as another diversion?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Oh look, I don't want to politicise natural disasters. It's important that as the former Emergency Services Minister, who went through the Black Summer, you don't politicise the trauma of your fellow Australians. You get in and you fix it and you help them. But it's important that the preparation is there. And I have every confidence in our emergency services that they have prepared. We have the best emergency services in the world. But this is where the Prime Minister will have a number of challenges, that he has ignored for 16 months that he is going to have to put his attention into after tonight.
And cost of living is still the major, major issue that he needs to focus on, that Australians are hurting. And that's why we just say to him, he's let us down.
He's divided the country, driven up the cost of living. We need better political leadership. I went to the Jobs and Skills Summit. I was constructive. I asked for a National Energy Summit to actually have a national conversation about how we can pause and plan and get this right to drive down energy and drive down emissions. He's didn't take my hand, but my hand is still there. And that's what I want to show the Australian people, that The Nationals will be the adults in the room and continue to be that. But the challenges that we face will be there constructively with them. Whether it be the cost of living, whether it be emergency services, The Nationals will be constructive. Because invariably, these challenges are just as real and just as acute and regional areas than what they're in the city.
JOURNALIST
Polling booths have just opened here in Queensland. I mean, any voter that's a bit on the fence, what would be your message to them today?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, firstly, I would say to them, don't feel guilted into voting yes or no. And don't think that there should be any guilt about the result. This is a democratic determined position the Australian people will take. That's the beauty of this great country. And while there's people standing behind me that don't agree, they're on the yes side, I respect that they come with the genuine intent. But we come with the lived experience, the lived experience of where the disadvantage is in rural and remote Australia. And let me tell you, we are not putting something new to the Australian people. This is something that has been tried before.
We are not going to wake up tomorrow if this gets through and say we are doing something different. We are repeating the mistakes to past. And for us in rural and remote area, it's personal
because that's where the gap hasn't been closed.
It's for us in rural and regional Australia that we don't want to repeat those mistakes. We just need a better bureaucracy, not a bigger one. And if this was about constitutional recognition, The Nationals are there every step of the way. In fact, that would've been the unifying moment. We would've been here today. We all would've had a big yes poster standing here today, if this was just about Constitutional recognition. But we shouldn't close the door to that, that journey is one that's going to take a little longer, if this doesn't get up tonight. But it's one that we won't turn our back on. We'll be a constructive force in that. That's the leadership that I think the Australian people want from their political leaders.
And that's what The National Party will continue to give, will be constructive with whatever's been put forward and whatever the decision is.
JOURNALIST
In the days before the Referendum, obviously the world's attention is turning to the Middle East at the moment. Is that a genuine danger of fear tactic?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, I think the Australian people are smart enough to work out their position. This is a deeply private position for them to take. Each one of these people that line up here today have a deeply personal decision to make. They'll make it with the right intent. And I'm proud of the fact that we've given them that information. There's a whole lot of allegations about misinformation, disinformation. One of the things that is the source of truth that Australians should look at is the pamphlet. The yes and no pamphlet.
The Nationals controlled that I'm confident of every message. There's 10 reasons why that's sitting in that pamphlet. If the Australians read that, they'll understand why. We are saying to them, you have the right to make your decision. Don't worry, don't feel guilted whether someone around the world or somewhere here in Australia thinks that you’re in the wrong.
This is your God-given right of being an Australian, to come in here and respectfully cast your view and don't have any anxiety about that. Don't feel guilted and don't feel any guilt about whatever the Australian people decide tonight. It's a position that we have to respect. We have to accept. And as political leaders, we have to bring this country with us tomorrow morning and I'll play my role as a Nationals leader, regardless. And I'll be prepared to call people out who do the wrong thing. I've done that through the whole campaign. We've been prepared to call my own Coalition partner out and the language hasn't been right.
That is the leadership the Australian people will need.
JOURNALIST
Australians loved to be loved. Yet Frank Sinatra told reporters in 1973 that Sydney had nice roof tiles but that was all. I mean, is that going to play on the mind of Australians? What the world thinks?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, the other thing that Australians hate is they don't like to be told what to do. And I don't think they're going to really care what people are trying to tell them, or guilt them into. And I think that's been one of the mistakes of the yes side is that they've engaged too much with big, big end of town corporate Australia. Australians aren't going to be told by corporate Australia how to set the moral compass in this country. They're smarter than that. They don't need movie stars, singers and sports stars to tell them what to do. Australian people make their own mind up and they don't like to be told what to do. I think that's a big lesson for everybody here.
We've got a great reputation in the world and that's why we should always still, while there's disadvantage, we have closed the gap in many parts of this country. We should celebrate that, but we should learn from it and know where it hasn't. The last bit is we do have to do something different and this proposition isn't something different. It's something we've had before. And as someone that lives out there, that's a mistake I don't want to see. And that's the genuine intent The Nationals have come to this position.
JOURNALIST
Do you think this will have an implication on the world stage, though, particularly our Pacific neighbours who I guess show a bit of a keen interest rights in this country?
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
No. We respect their sovereignty and they respect ours.
We put ourselves in a position, in a global position, we have done so much good in the world. And when the world needs us, we've been there in the hour of need. Whether it be the tsunamis, whether it's be democracies being threatened, Australians have been there. This is a decision the Australian people made. We shouldn't fear what anyone else thinks of this. But there is no way in the world that the world is going to look down their nose and castigate Australia for a democratically determined position. That is a principle that many countries would like to get to.
That you can have this, through the ballot box, that you have this debate through the ballot box. That means that we're one of the greatest countries world and we should be proud of that and we shouldn't fear it. And we should celebrate the fact that if other countries don't like the position we've got to, then we'll work through that with them. But that should be that. No Australia should feel guilty about how they vote today or feel guilty after. Thanks guys. Have a good day.
