KELLY GUDGEON:
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers joins me for that final push from the government. Good morning to you Minister, how are you this morning?
JIM CHALMERS:
Good morning Kelly, it's kind of you to have me on your show. Thanks very much.
GUDGEON:
Now for the constitution to be changed, the referendum needs to achieve a majority national vote – that is a majority across the country and in at least four of the six states. It's being reported this morning that polling is showing this is unlikely. In fact, final polling by YouGov is the No camp will likely achieve 56 per cent and yes 38 per cent. What's your reaction to that?
CHALMERS:
Obviously when you want to change the constitution in this country, that has been historically a difficult thing to do but this is a really important change and it's a really simple change. It really just boils down to better listening and better outcomes. It's not the idea of politicians like me, it's the idea of Indigenous Australians themselves and it boils down to a really important choice – a choice between recognition and listening or leaving it to the politicians to decide, it's a choice between better results and more of the same failures, frankly, bringing people together or leaving people behind.
My belief and the government's belief and I think a substantial chunk of the Australian population understand that when governments listen to people about issues that affect them, they make better decisions and they get better results and they deliver better value for money and the alternative to that is to just keep doing things exactly as we have been doing them and that hasn't been working for too long for our First Nations people, but also for the country more broadly.
GUDGEON:
One of the biggest concerns is that many people, even at this late stage are still unsure what they're voting for. Do you think the government has given people enough information?
CHALMERS:
I think so. We've made it very clear what this is about and unfortunately there's been a lot of misinformation about what this isn't about but for all of your listeners, Kelly, who are tuning in and making up their minds, it really does just boil down to better listening and better outcomes. It's essentially an advisory group to the Parliament, the Parliament will continue to make laws on behalf of the Australian people but for anyone who's making up their mind, I'd encourage them to think about it like this – if your listeners agree that even with a lot of good will and billions of dollars in investment, we haven't been getting those better outcomes that we want to see, we haven't been closing the gap for our First Nations brothers and sisters, we need to do things differently and we need to do things better and that starts with listening and that's really what the vote tomorrow is all about.
GUDGEON:
The No campaign has been running on the message that the voice will further divide the nation. Has that been difficult to cut through that message?
CHALMERS:
Well, I think unfortunately, there's an element of hypocrisy there. The divisive element of this important national debate has been fed and I think fostered and let fester by people who've been peddling misinformation about it and unfortunately, that applies to Peter Dutton as it applies to other key figures in in the No campaign. Whether it's Peter Dutton, whether it's Clive Palmer who's not been especially friendly to Western Australia over recent years, they've been putting out a lot of stuff about what this isn't about and that's why it's so important that we focus on what it is about – this is a chance to bring the country together, ideally, but a no vote will just leave more people behind. A no vote is really a cul-de-sac for this country, it's a cul-de-sac of division and disappointment.
GUDGEON:
So for those people who are still sitting on the fence ahead of polling day tomorrow, what's your final message to them?
CHALMERS:
Well, this is a generational opportunity for us to do the right thing, to listen better and to get better outcomes for the billions of dollars that we invest in closing the gap. It's our chance to make an important choice to get better results for people or to stick with the same old failures and I believe that Australians understand that if you want to do things better, you've got to do things differently and you need to start with listening and so I'd really implore all of your listeners who are still making up their minds to vote for better listening and vote for better outcomes and to do something that we can be genuinely proud of. Don't let the No campaign divide us unnecessarily, let's do something for the first of us in a way that could lift all of us up.
GUDGEON:
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, thank you very much for your time this morning. I appreciate it.
CHALMERS:
Appreciate it, Kelly. All the best. Thanks so much.