Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has claimed she received confirmation the document containing the Uluru Statement from the Heart is actually 26 pages long.
The revelation prompted a swift denial from the government agency at the centre of the storm – the National Indigenous Australians Agency – who wrote to Senator Nampijinpa Price to insist 25 of the 26 pages are filled with contexual notes about the discussions which led to the Statement.
Since 2017, when the convention took place, the final Statement has been touted as a one-page, 439-word ‘generous’ call to unite Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Prime Minister has repeatedly said it fits on one A4 page, so there is no fine print detail.In the five years since its creation, www.chaofansa.com it has been read aloud at events all across the nation.
However, a has been obtained under Freedom of Information which offers detailed context about how the Statement came to exist, prompting some speculation the Statement itself has a longer form.
Within this document are calls for reparations, ‘rent’ to be paid, and a reconsideration of land rights, but such words were never included in the Statement itself.
Fears that such matters are on the agenda if the Voice to Parliament gets approved at the upcoming referendum have been cited as a significant factor in the weak support for the Yes campaign.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly said the this proposal fits on one A4 page.He held up a piece of paper, with the Uluru Statement, in parliament on Tuesday
Mr Albanese has repeatedly said Labor is committed to adopting the Uluru Statement from the Heart ‘in full’, i.e. the single page statement.
Senator Nampijinpa Price – who is a leading ‘No’ advocate of the – told Sky News on Tuesday night that her office received confirmation the full document within which is contained is 26 pages long.
‘My staff got a phone call at 12.54 this afternoon with a verbal clarification that the document is, in fact, the 26 pages and not just, of course, the one page,’ she told Peta Credlin.
However, the National Indigenous Australians Agency contests Senator Nampijinpa Price’s understanding of the conversation.
In a letter sent to her office, the NIAA argued that they simply confirmed the information available online about the document ‘was accurate’.
‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart is one page, signed by the delegates at the National Convention in 2017,’ the letter reads.
‘The authors of the Uluru Statement from the Heart have confirmed that.
‘The additional pages contained in Document 14 are background and excerpts from the regional dialogues.’
Senator Nampijinpa Price responded stating the letter ‘appears to be at odds’ with the information available to her, and vowing to ‘pursue the matter vigorously in Senate estimates’.
Mr Albanese has repeatedly said Labor is committed to adopting the Uluru Statement of the Heart ‘in full’
