The Prime Minister is asked about what he can do for local Indigenous communities, which feel let down after the failure of the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Indigenous communities, overwhelmingly, voted Yes. And that’s not surprising. Because this is an idea that came from Indigenous communities at the First Nations constitutional convention that was held at Uluru in 2017. We took up the gracious invitation of First Nations people to put that proposition to a referendum. It wasn’t successful. And we respect the outcome. So what we have been doing – and I’ve met with people like Noel Pearson from the Cape York Institute, of course – who’s done such an extraordinary job. There are wonderful examples, including here in the Cape, of improving the lives of First Nations people and closing the gap across a range of areas. We’ll provide practical measures going forward in closing the gap on education, on health, on housing. These are the measures that we’ve put in place through proper funding in our budgets going forward of – how do we make a difference so that the gap, which is far too wide, and, in some cases, is widening. It is a national issue and all governments have not done well enough. That is the truth. We’re committed to doing better in the future and, we’re committed also to engaging with First Nations people.