Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called out the “separatism” of ‘The Voice,’ urging Australians to vote no to a constitutional change.
Senator Price addressed ‘The No Campaign’ in Adelaide on Thursday night, beginning her speech by acknowledging “everybody’s contribution to this country.” The newly appointed Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, called the proposed legislation “racist.”
“This issue is seen as black and white, but we’re forgetting our migrant communities, Australia Day is the most popular day to become an Australian, let’s not take that away from our new Australians,” she said.
“Australian values need to be reinstated… [it’s] not racist to stand up for an equal Australia” Senator Price said.
‘The No Campaign’ backed by Advance Australia a conservative lobbying group, have developed a campaign strategy aimed at telling the story of everyday Australians. Advance Australia Executive Director Matthew Sheahan called the campaign “a battle for the heart and soul of this country.”
Addressing the Adelaide crowd Mr Sheahan said that people were unaware of ‘The Voice’ and its implications, and the “soft yes votes” were the best strategy to stop this constitutional change.
With the referendum set for the end of this year, Australians attitudes towards ‘The Voice’ are already waning with a 7% drop in support for the proposed change according to a snap SMS poll conducted by Roy Morgan.
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, said “Support for ‘The Voice’ has dropped amongst both genders and all age groups and crucially – support is down in all six States around Australia. For a referendum to pass in Australia a majority of voters around the country as well as a majority of voters in at least four out of the six States must vote in favour of a change.”
South Australian Senator Alex Antic also spoke at the event and referred to his question of a Senate Committee, where he asked who qualifies as indigenous? During that exchange, he was accused of being “borderline racist.”
“It's simply not racist to vote no to ‘The Voice,’” he said.
“It's a racist proposal, dividing Australians on race… the detail is not there, who will qualify for it, how will it work?” Senator Antic said.
The referendum on ‘The Voice’ is proposed for the end of the 2023 calendar year.