'The pain is still raw': Anthony Albanese makes first Garma address since Voice defeat

Acknowledging the defeat of the Voice referendum, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also outlined new opportunities and investments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in his Garma Festival speech.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had not returned to Garma to "talk about what might have been". Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has addressed Australia's largest Indigenous political gathering in a speech that reflected on the Voice to Parliament's defeat and focused on economic empowerment.

The Garma Festival, the nation's biggest celebration of Yolngu culture, was where Albanese put forward his proposition for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament in 2022, and last year attempted to reboot the campaign in support of the proposal two months before the vote.

He returned for the festival's opening on Friday and spoke on Saturday, saying he understood the "high bar" the referendum had to clear and "the historical record we were up against".

"I knew that success could not be guaranteed, but as I said here at Garma on that day (at Garma in 2022), we recognise the risk of failure, we also recognise the risk of failing to try."

Albanese said he understood that, for advocates who had dedicated years of their life to the campaign for the Voice to Parliament, the "pain is still raw" but added he had not returned to Garma to "talk about what might have been".

The prime minister said his government would continue to work with First Nations leaders and communities to make change at a federal level, referencing investments in housing, justice programs, and the building of new medical centres.

Albanese also announced a new partnership agreement with the NT government and the Yothu Yindi Foundation to invest $20 million from the Aboriginal Benefits Account to build the Garma Institute, a tertiary and vocational education centre run by Yolgnu people on Country.

Prior to these announcements, Albanese acknowledged Linda Burney's legacy as the first Indigenous woman elected to Australia's House of Representatives following the announcement of her resignation from cabinet and decision to not re-contest the next federal election.

Malarndirri McCarthy is the new Minister for Indigenous Australians and Albanese described her as a "strong woman" and a "fiercely proud Territorian".

The Opposition declined to attend Garma this year.

Opportunities from the renewables economy

A centrepiece of Albanese's address was the announcement his government would create a new First Nations economic partnership with the Coalition of Peaks, which would aim to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities benefit from the global energy transition to renewables.

Albanese said the energy transition would allow Australia to become a renewable energy superpower and represents the "biggest change in the global economy since the industrial revolution".

Referring to resources such as the critical minerals needed for the transition, he said it is the "best chance Australia has ever had to bring genuine self-determination and lasting economic empowerment to remote communities."

Albanese also said new careers in clean energy, construction, the care economy, technology, infrastructure and resources could "change lives and strengthen communities".

Responding to the announcement, chief executive officer of the National Native Title Council and Gunditjmara and Djabwurrung man, Jamie Low said the alliance was "important" and that while there is "immense opportunity on the horizon" for First Nations communities, the rights and interests of those communities had to protected along the way.

An address from NT police

Northern Territory Police Force Commissioner Michael Murphy also addressed Garma Festival Saturday, acknowledging the harm done to the Aboriginal community by NT police and expressing that he wanted to "eliminate racism in the Northern Territory Police."

Murphy listed historical events that had harmed the Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory and acknowledged failures of the NT police to protect Aboriginal people.

"Northern Territory Police need to be accountable for the past treatment of Aboriginal people," Murphy said.

The commissioner said he was committing to lead change and transform the relationship between police and Aboriginal people in the NT.

Murphy said he wanted to reduced crime and incarceration rates and the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.

Speaking earlier to ABC News, Murphy said his address would be "an apology for a number of our involvements in policy positions and also some of our activities that we have undertaken as Northern Territory police in the past."

Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

"It's about recognising and owning it so we can move forward and unite and looking at healing and reconciliation into the future to work together for better outcomes for community safety," he said.

This year's Garma Festival takes place from 2 to 5 August in northeast Arnhem Land.