Opposition Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has slammed Anthony Albanese for “abandoning” Aboriginal communities since the failed Voice referendum.
Since the poll two months ago on October 14 – in which 60 per cent of Australians voted against enshrining a race-based advisory body in the constitution – Senator Price said Mr Albanese had gone missing from First Nations people.
“Where has he been on these issues, shame on him when he came to Alice Springs in February and he hasn't been back,” Senator Price said. The Daily Telegraph this week.
Senator Price said it was “quite disappointing” that Mr Albanese “hasn't heard anything about issues relating to Indigenous Australians” since the Yes campaign was reversed.
She said the Prime Minister has not even chaired a press conference on Aboriginal issues since October 22, a claim that appears to be supported by official government transcripts.
“Where are you, Albo?” she said.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of being missing on Indigenous issues since the Voice referendum was voted down
Albanese is currently on a five-day holiday, with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles holding the top job while he takes a break.
He and his wife Jodie Haydon posed with singer Marcia Hines at a Foo Fighters concert in Sydney on Saturday evening to kick off his holiday.
Senator Price said that despite a hefty $250 million in funding announced to tackle anti-social behavior and youth crime in her home town of Alice Springs, 'not much had changed on the ground'.
She recalled a friend telling her she was patrolling the city for her security job when her vehicle was rammed by a group of youths in a stolen car.
They then chased her and as a result she required hospital treatment.
She said there is still a crime wave in the area, but Mr Albanese has not been there since the start of this year, despite traveling to nearby Uluru in the days leading up to the referendum.
Mr Albanese is currently on a five-day break and was photographed outside the Foot Fighters Sydney concert on Saturday evening with partner Jodie Haydon and singer Marcia Hynes
Mr Albanese has been dubbed 'Airbus Albo' because of the frequency of his foreign travel, which saw him fly to the US for a lavish state dinner just days after the referendum failed to produce a result
Brisbane residents Keith and Christine Blair, who were on a trip to Uluru when the Prime Minister visited, said they had voted against the referendum.
“What the Constitution is about is bringing people together and what the referendum does, it divides people,” Ms Blair, who moved to Australia from France 25 years ago, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“I wish the money that went into this referendum would have been used to address Aboriginal (people) issues instead,” she said.
'I was blown away by the state of Alice Springs. For me, coming from France, it felt like I was in the ghettos of Paris. I don't think the referendum will say anything about that.'
Senator Price said she also believed the majority of Australians voted 'No' to the Voice for those two reasons.
First, because people did not want the country to be irreversibly divided along a racial line in the future, and second, because the problems are already known, and the Vote would only serve as a debate-filled distraction from actually addressing them.
But rather than lick his wounds since the embarrassing referendum defeat, Mr Albanese could perhaps consciously avoid the subject until 2024, when the momentum of the failed referendum has waned.
Several key members of the Yes23 campaign, as well as Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, have said they are regrouping and will have more of a say in the new year.