Anthony Albanese revved up Labor supporters about the upcoming Voice referendum.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A Yes vote,Albanese argued,would “resound across our continent” and make “Australia,the greatest country on earth,just that little bit greater”.
“No one pretends winning a referendum is straightforward ... We join the Labor Party to scale the peaks,” Albanese said.
“To change the country for the better in a way that outlasts all of us is a bold undertaking,but we take on these things because that has always been the Labor way. We take them on not because they’re convenient,but out of conviction.”
The Labor leader’s comments about the difficulty of winning the referendum came a day after he said in a TV interview that he would “do my best” to win,but that he knew at the outset that the referendum held some risk.
Albanese revved up his supporters about the upcoming referendum,to be held in October or November,on thefinal day of the Labor’s national conference,where the party shapes its policy manifesto.
The previously staunch left-winger cast himself as a consensus politician who would govern from the centre. Albanese departed the conference with his authority solidified having limited anoutbreak of dissent over the AUKUS submarine deal,avoided left-wing demands to soften border protection policies,and killed off a divisive debate on Israel andrecognition of a Palestinian state.