Indigenous Yes supporters unleash on No voters in open letter ending week of silence to mourn Voice result

Thousands of readers have slammed accusations No voters in the Voice referendum were motivated by racism, claiming Yes supporters behind an open letter were sore losers. Vote in our poll

News Corp Australia readers have overwhelmingly rejected an open letter from a group of Indigenous Yes supporters who attacked No voters, the media, Coalition MPs and conservative think tanks, accusing them of fuelling a “racist” campaign against the Voice.

The authors and signatories of an open letter, which expansively details the reasons some Yes campaign leaders believe the October 14 referendum failed, declined to be named before the three-page document was distributed on Sunday night.

More than 2600 people have voted in our online poll asking whether readers agreed with the letter, with 95 per cent of respondents voting no.

“People are losing their lives, their homes, their loved ones on the other side of the world... who cares what two per cent of the population want or think! It’s a democracy. Get over it,” Nickolas commented.

“Really, this is just ‘sour grapes’. You put forward an idea which was rejected. Move on,” wrote Jen.

Yes23 leaders struck a more conciliatory tone on referendum night compared to unattributed open letter released a week later. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Readers were responding to the letter which outlined 12 “collective insights and views” on behalf of “a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, community members and organisations who supported Yes” was backed by the Uluru Dialogue several hours after the document was first made public, News Corp has confirmed.

Prominent Yes campaigners Megan Davis and Pat Anderson are the co-chairs of the Dialogue, the group behind the consultations that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.

Uluru Dialogue Youth co-chair Allira Davis also shared the letter on social media on Sunday night, with the message “we are are still here and we are still surviving. Always was, always will be”.

The letter ends a week of silence mourning the referendum loss, which was backed by many leaders involved in the Yes campaign.

The group revealed they now want to “talk with our people and our supporters” about establishing some kind of Voice that could speak up to governments and the Australian people “independent of the Constitution or legislation”.

“We will regather in due course and develop a plan for our future direction,” the letter said.

A source in the Yes camp familiar with the week-long deliberations that led to the writing of the letter said several drafts were shared among a group of about 50 Indigenous leaders, including people connected to the Uluru Dialogue and Yes23.

Yes supporters consoled each other on referendum night. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

The strong No result shocked many Yes campaigners. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

But as the “tone” and “message” of the letter emerged, the source said not everyone included in the emails wanted to be involved, with people against the idea advised to simply not share the final version on their social media channels.

The anonymous group placed blame for the failure of the referendum on Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud, as well as “lies in political advertising” during the campaign.

“The support for the referendum collapsed from the moment Liberal and National Party leaders, Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud, chose to oppose the Voice to Parliament proposal after more than a decade of bipartisan support,” the letter said.

The group said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were in “shock” and grieving the result of the October 14 referendum to constitutionally enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

“There has always been racism against First Nations people in Australia,” the letter said.

“It increased with multiple daily instances during the campaign and was a powerful driver for the No campaign.

“But this campaign went beyond just racism. ‘If you don’t know – vote No’ gave expression to ignorance and licensed abandonment of civic responsibility on the part of many voters who voted no.”

About 60 per cent of Australians voted No in the referendum. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

The letter said conservative think tanks the Institute of Public Affairs, the Centre for Independent studies and “mainstream media” shared responsibility for this “shameful victory”.

“The truth is that the majority of Australians have committed a shameful act whether knowingly or not, and there is nothing positive to be interpreted from it,” the letter said.

“We needed truth to be told to the Australian people.”

The group said they remained committed to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and claimed they had “faith” the upswell of support through the referendum had “ignited a fire for many to walk with us on our journey towards justice”.

“That so many Australian people believe there is no race or division on race in the current Australian Constitution speaks to the need for better education on Australian history and better civics education,” the group said.

The letter thanked the 5.5 million Australians who voted Yes, and acknowledged the high levels of support in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“We thank those Australians who gave Yes more support at this referendum than they did to any political party.”

Warren Mundine. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / John Gass

Leading No campaigner Warren Mundine rejected accusations voters were motivated by racism and said the Yes supporters behind the open letter had “misread” the referendum result.

“The Australian public are not racists, they’re not idiots, they’re not stupid, all those insults, they’ve totally misread this,” he said.

“They’re still missing the point, the vast majority of Australians wanted to say Yes to recognition, but they didn’t like the Voice.”

Mr Mundine said he believed there was a “core group” within the Yes campaign who were “definitely activists” who had “hijacked” the messaging after the referendum.

“There are some sensible people in the Yes campaign who are trying to try and get things back and heal the country so we can move forward and deal with the Closing the Gap issues,” he said.

“But some haven’t learned anything from the referendum, that’s the craziness, this letter proves it, because they’re still abusing people, they’re still making allegations rather than reaching out.”

Mr Mundine said he empathised with Voice supporters who had put their “heart and soul” into the referendum only to be rejected, and that he understood why many had taken a week of silence to mourn.

“I respect that, and then this Monday it’s now time to start the healing. I’m just disappointed that they put out this statement,” he said.

“It’s now time for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ... to start being the leader ... he’s got to now reach out to people and say ok let’s do some real healing here because there are people who are hurting, on both sides.”

Originally published as Indigenous Yes supporters unleash on No voters in open letter ending week of silence to mourn Voice result