Noel Pearson was highly critical of the Liberal Party position headed by Peter Dutton.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer/Peter Dutton
But he was savaged by Pearson,who told Radio National Breakfast:“I couldn’t sleep last night. I was troubled by dreams and the spectre of the Dutton Liberal Party’s Judas betrayal of our country.”
“They’ve had 11 years of power to work on a proper proposal for recognition and the decision they’ve taken yesterday is a very poor outcome[after] 11 years of power ... I see the leader of the Liberal Party,Mr Dutton,as an undertaker preparing the grave to bury Uluru.”
Pearson quoted former US first lady Michelle Obama’s famous statement “when they go low,we go high” and said the “yes” campaign would win by appealing to the “better angels of the Australian people”.
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“In the campaign going forward it will be Dutton and[One Nation leader Pauline] Hanson versus the good will of the Australian people,” he said.
Pearson’s comments were echoed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,who said in Sydney on Thursday morning that the opposition’s stance was “consistent with the undermining of constitutional recognition that he has undertaken since the day that he became leader of the Liberal Party”.
“This is an issue that should be above politics,but as Noel Pearson said,Peter Dutton is acting like the undertaker preparing the grave to bury Uluru,” the prime minister said,referring to theUluru Statement from the Heart,the document that called for a constitutionally enshrined body after years of conversations around Australia hosted by Indigenous communities.