’Completely mishandled’: Dutton urges Albanese to scrap Voice vote

Peter Dutton has unleashed a bombshell new push on the Voice to Parliament vote in a spectacular attack on Anthony Albanese.

Peter Dutton has slammed Anthony Albanese for “completely mishandling” the Voice referendum and urged him to postpone the vote — warning it will “set back reconciliation and divide the nation”.

But the Prime Minister, who arrived back in Australia this morning, has bluntly rejected the offer — signalling the national vote will proceed on October 14.

In the wake of new opinion polling suggesting the proposal is headed for defeat, Mr Dutton accused the Prime Minister of risking a devastating defeat.

“Prime Minister, you’ve completely mishandled your Canberra Voice proposal, and it’s increasingly clear that the Voice referendum is not going to deliver the moment of national unity that the 1967 referendum delivered,’’ Mr Dutton said.

“Will the Prime Minister withdraw his Voice referendum so we can avoid an outcome which sets back reconciliation and divides the nation?”

What a failure of campaigning looks like. pic.twitter.com/lv3rMkZ7SO

— Jonathan Green (@GreenJ) September 10, 2023

Mr Dutton has suggested that if the Voice proposal fails he will hold another referendum solely on symbolic recognition of Indigenous Australians.

He first flagged the idea when announcing the Coalition’s opposition to the Voice referendum.

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has ridiculed the suggestion — accusing Mr Dutton of failing to listen to Indigenous Australians.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“I established a timetable that was very clear for this process,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“The Leader of the Opposition sat on this side of the chamber and voted for the legislation, as did a majority of senators vote for the legislation.

“The referendum will take place on that day (October 14) and Australia and Australians will … get to determine their view on that day.

“The leader of the opposition of course, has since then committed to if he’s ever elected Prime Minister to have another referendum, if this referendum is defeated. So he wants this to just go on ad infinitum, despite the fact that a majority of the process occurred under the previous government.”

Last week a poll from RedBridge marked the lowest poll result for the Yes campaign so far – with an overwhelming 61 per cent planning to vote No.

The poll was conducted in the first week of September, following Mr Albanese’s announcement the referendum would be held on October 14.

The poll also found that Labor voters are deserting the party line, with 57 per cent of its supporter base planning to vote Yes and 43 per cent No.

The RedBridge poll found that 87 per cent of Coalition supporters were planning to vote in line with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s No camp.

Speaking on Sky News, Jacqui Lambie accused the federal government of doing a “lousy” job promoting the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Anthony Albanese during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

RedBridge director of corporate affairs and communications, Tony Barry described support for the Yes vote as in “free fall”, having dropped five per cent in a month.

“The Yes23 campaign keep briefing the media that they are taking their campaign to the suburbs and regions, but then they pivot back to media stunts with corporates, celebrities or former senior politicians who previously opposed it,” Mr Barry told The Daily Telegraph.

“Attaching your campaign to a toxic brand like Qantas and one of the most disliked CEOs in the country might work if you are pitching your message to the members of the Chairman’s Lounge, but in suburban and regional Australia it goes down like a cup of sick,” he said.

“The No campaign is showing greater message discipline by repeatedly referring to the proposal as the ‘Canberra Voice’ because their research is presumably showing it is a persuasive message that moves soft voters into their column.”

Originally published as ’Completely mishandled’: Dutton urges Albanese to scrap Voice vote