PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: let's bring in the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy. Malarndirri, good to see you. How are you feeling in this moment?
MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY: Good morning, Peter. Good morning to all you viewers across the country. Very excited, very indeed. I think we are now going to see the beginning of the official campaign and I'm looking forward to it when the Prime Minister announces it.
STEFANOVIC: it is October 14th yeah?
MCCARTHY: well, that'll be up to the Prime Minister to give the announcement on it, Pete. But can I just say this to all your viewers? I am so keen on it being as early as possible because I am concerned about northern Australia. We're getting the build up quite soon and we need, weather wise, be able to get out and about across northern Australia.
STEFANOVIC: Okay. Just looking at the polls that were that was brought up by Trudy not too long ago and we'll run them again at the top of the hour. They still say you don't succeed across the board. So where do you think this all comes down to? What gives you hope?
MCCARTHY: Well, what gives me hope is that it's a bit like a grand final now, isn't it, Pete? Like, you know, it's the yes or no. And I think it's like any grand final. You just go in there with a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of optimism and a lot of hope. And you go, you know what? Australians, we're going to be knocking on your doors. We're going to be talking to you wherever you are, right up until 6 p.m. on referendum day.
STEFANOVIC: Okay? I mean, fatigue is certainly a factor out there already because we've been talking about it for some time now. You've got the issues, though, of messaging, which has been confused, folks, if they've even paid attention up until this point, still don't know what it is or what the outcome is going to be. Does treaty and reparations come next? court challenges, etc? So do you blame voters for being sceptical about the whole thing?
MCCARTHY: I don't blame anyone. You know, this is a referendum. We are a democratic country and this is our opportunity. At rare moments in the country for all Australians to either say yes or no. I think it's a really exciting time. I think this is a fantastic time for our country now to really drill down and have a look at what's going on for all Australians, those who've been not as interested, those who are very interested. This is our chance now to really get involved in this next couple of weeks, however long the campaign is.
STEFANOVIC: So what do you think is the biggest hurdle to overcome for the Yes campaign?
MCCARTHY: Just reaching out to everyone everywhere, there so many remote and regional parts of the country there’s certainly language translations. Where I come from in the NT we have over 100 first nations languages and we also have the multicultural community and their languages so I’m really mindful that we’ve still got to reach people. Just the other day there was a story on people from the deaf community saying they haven’t received enough information in AUSLAN. So it’s really fine tuning not just the messaging but just making sure people understand in their own languages
STEFANOVIC: There was an interesting piece in The Australian today coming from the Indigenous community of Yarrabah in far north Queensland, showing how the voice can work. I mean, are you satisfied that everything is in place, that it will help the lives of Indigenous Australians
MCCARTHY: Oh look I’m just excited. ‘satisfied’ is something I haven’t quite reached yet because I feel we haven’t got there until the ballot on the day and I think then if you ask me those questions post it, you can reflect on it. Right now its about excitement and hope. This is the last quarter in this game and we’ve to try and do the best we can as yes supporters and hopefully get across the line
STEFANOVIC: and just finally we have brought up these pictures of Adam Bandt and Bill Shorten in Melbourne today and later we’ve got Tanya Plibersek and Malcolm Turnbull who once famously said that this would be a ‘third chamber’ of parliament. What do you make of these alliances that are forming?
MCCARTHY: It just shows that this is about democracy. This is about people who see the need for first nations people to be supported in having a voice to the parliament and I welcome those alliances and support from every quarter and I’ll still keep reaching out to people, even those heavy no voters and say please come across and join us. This is going to be good for our country.