‘Preaching’: Cate Blanchett lashed over voice to parliament pitch

Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett has been heavily criticised for her “preachy” comments about the upcoming voice to parliament referendum.

Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett has been labelled “preachy” and “elite” after urging Aussies to vote Yes in the upcoming voice to parliament referendum.

Blanchett’s political statement comes as the official Yes campaign said its new messaging would focus on the stories of Indigenous people instead of high-profile endorsements.

The celebrated Australian actress, reportedly worth a eye-watering $95 million, made the comments on ABC’s 7.30 on Monday night while promoting her new movie The New Boy, declaring it’s an “extraordinary time for an extraordinary country”.

The two-time Oscar winner said she was saddened by the “fear being generated about a really positive moment”, before repeatedly stressing to Australians that the “primacy of parliament is not under threat”.

Blanchett is reportedly worth a cool $95 million dollars. Picture: Getty

“It’s just that parliament is a place where the important issues of the day are debated and all points of view are listened to and the government, parliament makes legislation, they make decisions,” she said.

“The parliament makes those decisions, but there is a certain voice that is never really in a nonpartisan way, in an eternal way, represented at that table and that’s an Indigenous voice and it is time we evolved to include all Australians.”

She compared the voice referendum to women achieving the vote.

“We don’t want to look back,” she said passionately.

“You think, women only achieved suffrage 120 years ago and at that time when that vote was happening, change felt terrible and the debate was all about, ‘Society is going to collapse and we don’t know what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen if women get the vote?’

“Now can we imagine a world in Australia where women didn’t have the right to vote, where their voices weren’t heard? No, we can’t.”

Okay, this is powerful. #auspolpic.twitter.com/qWE25u5nCX

— PRGuy (@PRGuy17) July 2, 2023

Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a leading advocate for the No campaign, was critical of Blanchett’s message.

“Australians don’t need multi-millionaire celebrities living overseas telling them what to do or how to vote,” she told news.com.au.

“If they spent more time with marginalised Australians they would know there’s nothing positive about division.

“Australia is already the most inclusive country in the world, and the good people of this country, from all backgrounds, have already democratically included Indigenous Australians.”

Social media users were also quick to lash the Hollywood actress, with one pointedly saying: “She should stick to acting.”

Another asked sarcastically: “Been on public transport lately Cate?”

“I’ll vote Yes if the actor signs over her entire property portfolio to disadvantaged Aboriginal kids in Alice Springs,” another quipped.

“Nothing better than millionaire entertainers telling us what us plebs should do from their mansions,” another said.

One user described her as part of the “elite’ who was “preaching to ordinary Australians”.

Blanchett was promoting her new film The New Boy when she made the comments with director Warwick Thornton. Picture: ABC 730

With polling showing Voice support has fallen in recent months, the campaign has decided to concentrate its efforts on using the voices of ordinary Indigenous Australians to explain the benefits.

“Australians want to be confident that voting Yes supports the hopes and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and aligns with their views,” a Yes 23 campaign spokesperson told news.com.au.

Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales George Williams said celebrity endorsements, which had been initially favoured by the Yes campaign, can be “counter productive” in a referendum.

“They run against the idea that it is a people’s proposal championed from the grassroots of the nation,” he said.

Blanchett is a passionate environmental campaigner.

Blanchett and family at a climate change rally in Sydney.

Yes 23 campaign director Dean Parkin declined to comment on specific media reports celebrities had been dumped from the official Yes campaign. But he said “referendums are about the Australian people”.

“A successful Yes vote is in the hands of the Australian people so its important we are out there in communities across the country talking to people from all walks of life.”

A source in the Yes campaign told news.com.au that while celebrity endorsements were welcomed, research had shown that Australians want to hear from “people on the ground” and that ordinary Aussies voices will be elevated in the Yes campaign.

The mansion owned by Blanchett in East Sussex, UK. Picture: Knight Frank

Blanchett’s comments on the voice isn’t her first foray into politics.

In 2011, she made headlines for fronting a climate change advertisement urging everyday Aussies to support a tax on carbon.

The advert, paid for by environmental groups, finished with the actress encouraging her fellow citizens to “finally” do something about climate change.

At the time, Blanchett, one of the world’s highest paid actresses who owns numerous multimillion-dollar mansions across Australia and England, was seen as an odd choice to be tasked with convincing ordinary Aussies about the merits of a tax on carbon.

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