Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanian announced on Saturday that former US basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, 50, supports the Australian government’s campaign to create an “original voice in Parliament”. This is a special advisory body for indigenous peoples to assist the government.
The former NBA star, who is in the country to give a series of speeches, met the Albanian prime minister and Australian Indigenous Minister Linda Burnie in Sydney on Saturday.
The prime minister said O’Neill himself had requested the meeting to learn more about the initiative to recognize Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders in the country’s constitution for the first time. O’Neill agreed to appear in campaign videos. “Whatever you want from me, let me know,” the four-time NBA champion said at a joint news conference.
Albania’s centre-left government, which came to power in the May elections, promised a national referendum on the recognition of indigenous peoples in the constitution and a “vote for parliament”.
VOICE is said to be a permanent body established to advise Parliament on issues affecting indigenous peoples.
