Anthony Albanese has shared a handy local tip for eliminating pesky bugs after suffering a run-in with a swarm of flies during a live interview in Uluru.
Making a final push to voters ahead of the Voice referendum, the Prime Minister said he accidentally ate not one but two flies while on a trip to fly-ridden Central Australia, where he met with Indigenous leaders ahead of October 14.
“The trick the local Indigenous people said to me is then you’ve got to gulp down a whole lot of water to so it goes straight down,” Mr Albanese told NovaFM.
“There’s a few flies at Uluru, but it was an incredibly moving experience., and all of the Northern Territory land councils are supporting a Yes vote.”
Mr Albanese was snapped being inundated with insects before making an emotional trip to the base of Uluru to meet with traditional owners, which he said was an “extraordinary and inspiring place”.
“You really feel it and it was so wonderful to get a welcome,” Mr Albanese said.
His trip came as millions of people gear up to head to the polls in less than two days to vote on whether Australia should enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution.
According to recent data, about four million people have already voted in early polling centres, with more than two million postal votes expected to flood in ahead of vote day.
Mr Albanese stood firm that he was confident that people would turn out to vote Yes despite most mainstream polls suggesting the Voice was headed for failure.
“I’m confident that when Australians go into a polling booth and think what we have now is No. Eight-year life expectancy gap, is that good enough? No, it’s not, so let’s have a crack and do something different by listening,” he said.
“I really hope that Australians when they go in the polling booths they say, ‘You know what? We’re going to show respect to Indigenous Australians’.”
On Saturday October 14, voters will be asked to vote Yes or No on a single question.
The question on the ballot paper will be: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”