Sunrise host Natalie Barr has unleashed at Anthony Albanese as support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament plummets, declaring the referendum as a ‘disaster’ before questioning his leadership.
During a fiery interview on Monday morning, Barr highlighted recent polls showing an increase for the No vote just five days out from the referendum.
Support for the Voice has fallen to 34 per cent in the past fortnight, according to the latest poll released on Monday.
‘Is it all over for the Yes campaign?’ she asked.
A defiant Mr Albanese refused to concede defeat.
‘Not at all. We have five days to go which people have the opportunity to examine the opportunity before them,’ he fired back.
‘Answering the request from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be recognised in our Constitution, in our nation’s founding document, and through a non-binding advisory committee, a Voice so that we can listen to indigenous Australians in order to get better outcomes.
‘That is what is on the ballot paper on Saturday and I’m sincerely hoping that when Australians examine what the question is that they will vote Yes too.’
Barr continued to grill the Prime Minister with tough questions.
‘Tt the start of all this, the polls were good, they were in your favour. They have just crashed over the last couple of months. When you look back – what could you have done better?’
Mr Albanese replied: ‘Well look, I’m focused on Saturday. We know, when I stood up and spoke about these issues, that it is hard to get a referendum up in Australia.’
‘But if you don’t run on the field, I think I said at the time, then you don’t win the grand final. We’re on the field and we are taking up the request of Indigenous Australians.’
He argued the proposal had been around for a long time and was more than decade in the making, most of which was under the former Coalition government.
‘It is unfortunate that there is not bipartisan support in this referendum, but what we will continue to do is to put the positive argument for Yes, because No equals more of the same,’ Mr Albanese added.
Nat Barr unleashed at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about The Voice to Parliament on Monday morning
He referenced the eight-year life expectancy gap between white and Indigenous Australians before Barr interjected.
‘We know they are terrible statistics, but you are on the field and you’ve hobbled. It is like half the team has been subbed off,’ Barr said before continuing with the grim truth: ”It’s a disaster, isn’t it? And also for your leadership. You stood there on election night and you said you would be hanging your hat on this.’
Mr Albanese snapped back: ‘This is about an idea, not an individual.’
Barr interrupted: ‘But you stood there and one of the first things you and Penny Wong mentioned on election night was this.’
The prime minister responded: ‘I didn’t mention it on election night, I mentioned it dozens and dozens of times beforehand, as did Scott Morrison before the 2019 election, as did John Howard before the 2007 election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and son Nathan (left) casted their votes for the Voice at a pre-polling booth on Saturday
‘This constitutional recognition of our first Australians has been spoken about for about for decades and we are bringing the country together to vote Yes on Saturday,’ he declared.
‘Just like the apology to Stolen Generations, it had no downside, only upside. There is everything to gain here are nothing to fear.
‘It is easy to run a smear campaign and run misinformation about this because most Australians don’t sit and have the Constitution by their bedside table, but the point here is this is an opportunity to take the country forward.’
Anthony Albanese refuses to concede defeat, support dwindling support for the Voice
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