Pat Farmer runs up against former colleagues as 14,400km journey for Indigenous voice reaches capital
Pat Farmer runs up against former colleagues as 14,400km journey for Indigenous voice reaches capital
Former Liberal MP, who is undertaking a six-month ultramarathon around Australia in support of the referendum, says he’s ‘incredibly disappointed this has become a political issue’
Former Liberal MP, who is undertaking a six-month ultramarathon around Australia in support of the referendum, says he’s ‘incredibly disappointed this has become a political issue’ ‐‐------------- The article is full of some really good quotes, including
“I’ve come across communities drinking bore water all their lives and then they need dialysis at an early age, kidney failure, when all they need is a filtration system on their water, but nobody’s listening – instead government is dishing out buildings for them they don’t need,” he says “These people have been neglected for such a long period of time. Everything we have in place just isn’t working. It’s not addressing the early mortality rate, more Indigenous people in the prison system, health and infrastructure needs. It makes sense that we need a different approach.” “I’ve heard things said by politicians that they want more detail – that’s just a lie, they know they create the detail, as part of the processes the Australian people will vote on,” he says. “Then it’s up to the politicians to nut that out in the parliament, what the detail is and then vote on it and get good policy in place. I’ve said to Coalition members, ‘Why not let the Australian people decide, then you can argue to the nth degree when it gets to the parliament’ – but they’re just being antagonistic.”
Some compelling insight. Mad props to this guys!
Julie Bishop was in Perth supporting a Yes vote… there are good people prepared to cut through the bullshit being spread by Dutton.
Julie Bishop just really hates Dutton.
To be fair she’s not wrong though!
Really good to see some positive media about this referendum, hopefully reaches alot of people and changes some minds.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Through 38C winter heat in Western Australia to icy conditions in Tasmania, Farmer says his latest ultramarathon effort is teaching him something about the cause he’s running for – support for the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Farmer, Liberal member for the Sydney seat of Macarthur from 2001-10, is most of the way around the nation in his massive effort in support of the referendum, a 14,400km undertaking.
Farmer says he’s appreciative of the support from politicians and the public alike, as he strikes up conversations about the referendum and Indigenous affairs as he passes through towns on his travels – but wasn’t quite as glowing about his former Coalition colleagues.
With the exception of several Coalition colleagues including Julian Leeser and Ken Wyatt, who he praised for their “great integrity”, Farmer is scathing of many conservative politicians.
Early Monday morning, Farmer joined Labor MP Andrew Leigh and dozens of Canberra locals for a lap around part of Lake Burley Griffin, as his run made it to the Australian Capital Territory – expected to be a strong backer of the referendum.
Leigh joked that the trot around part of Lake Burley Griffin was “something terrible” for Farmer: “A 5km run that will get him no closer to his destination.”
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