‘We’re not dumb’: Backlash over Waleed Aly’s comments

A Western Sydney mayor has launched a blistering attack on TV host Waleed Aly over comments he made on The Project for why people voted No.

A Western Sydney mayor has launched a blistering attack on TV host Waleed Aly over comments he made on The Project on why people voted No.

Discussing the failure of the Yes campaign on The Project on Monday, Aly attributed it to education levels.

“The biggest dividing line seems to have been education,” he explained.

“If you were in a seat with high levels of tertiary education, bachelor or post you were at the very top end of the Yes vote.

“If you had the lowest levels of socioeducation you were at the low end of the Yes vote.

“That’s not to say people who were educated know what they’re doing and people who don’t have tertiary education don’t.”

The panel discussed the referendum following the result being revealed over the weekend. Picture from The Project.

He went on to say the “style” of the messaging from the Yes campaign failed to resonate with many voters from certain socio-economic groups.

Aussies resoundingly rejected the Voice to parliament, but one of the most notable losses was in Western Sydney, a belt of about 10 federal electorates with a high number of migrants and aspirational voters.

Liverpool Council Mayor, Ned Mannoun told Ben Fordham on 2GB his community were “not dumb”.

“I want to stand up for the people of Western Sydney,” he said, labelling Aly’s comments “disrespectful”.

Aly said that the primary factor that impacted voting patterns appeared to be education. Source: The Project.

“There were multiple reasons people didn’t support the Voice and it wasn’t because of education levels,” he said.

“A lot of migrants here, coming from war torn countries, countries that don’t have a thriving democracy like we do. You come here, you become an Australian citizen and you get your voice on election day … so the other voice didn’t make sense.”

Mr Mannoun also said the “lack of detail” was also a factor.

“It was like a salesman saying ‘sign up here and everything will be all right and leave the detail to me’ and it didn’t sit right with people,” he said.

Mr Mannoun said “people in western Sydney can smell bulls**t a mile away”.

He urged the media and politicians “not to look down” on western Sydney.

“Don’t say that we aren’t smart,” he said. “There are some brilliant people and brilliant minds here.”

In an emotional speech on Saturday night as the result became clear, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he never imagined it would be easy to secure a victory but shared that he was disappointed by the outcome.

He said in a speech: “As Prime Minister I will always accept responsibility for the decisions I’ve taken and I do so tonight but I do want Australians to know I will always be ambitious for our country.”

-with Joshua Haig