‘Invite-only … elite experiment’: Jacinta Price blasts Yes campaign

A leading No vote campaigner has argued the Voice is an “elite experiment” that is “detached” from real issues facing Indigenous Australians.

Northern Territory Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has claimed the Voice to parliament is an “elite experiment” that is “detached” from real issues facing Australia’s First Nations People.

The Yes and No campaigns will reach full steam later today, with the Prime Minister announcing a referendum date today.

Senator Price took her shots early this morning, calling into Ben Fordham’s 2GB breakfast program.

According to the senator, the Yes campaign has been “undemocratic” and “flawed” from its conception.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a leading No vote campaigner.

Ms Price added that the Uluru Statement was an “invite only” club of “unelected individuals”.

“Two-hundred-and-fifty unelected individuals don’t have the right to sign on behalf of three per cent of the country and claim that we’re all one homogenous group,” she told the program.

“The process was undemocratic, it was flawed, and I knew right away that there were just a handful of individuals behind it with their own agendas – this is how Aboriginal politics works.”

The scathing critique continued with Ms Price adding that she felt it was divisive and needed evidence on how it plans to deliver promised outcomes.

Instead, she expects the Voice to parliament will go after “issues of the day” like Australia Day, reparations and treaty.

“It’ll become a lobby group, and they’ll go after issues about whatever their agenda is on that day,” Ms Price said.

“So far, none of the proponents of the Voice have prioritised the needs of vulnerable Indigenous women and children in remote communities, not one of them have – they’ve talked about reparations, they’ve talked about abolishing Australia Day, they’ve talked about constructing treaties.

Ms Price said Indigenous Australians are not well represented by the Voice. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“But (there’s) nothing of any substance that is going to improve the lives of the most marginalised.”

Ms Price went on to address reports of regional and remote Indigenous communities rejecting or expressing hesitancy regarding the Voice.

“This is an elite concept, an elite experiment that really people in remote communities are completely detached from,” she said.

“It’s not any surprise to me that there are those in far north Queensland who don’t support it because the same sentiment exists throughout regional and remote communities throughout Australia.”

Ms Price took a shot at corporate Australia, who she believes has overwhelmingly jumped onto the Yes campaign, accusing many of wanting to “appear virtuous”.

“The corporates have backed the Yes side to the absolute hilt … those that are completely, utterly removed from the lives of our most marginalised and remote communities,” she said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will fire the starter’s gun later today by officially announcing the vote date.

Ms Price took aim at corporate Australia’s backing of the Yes campaign. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The Prime Minister will name the date, widely expected to be October 14, in the working-class Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth at a rally to be attended by hundreds of Yes supporters.

However, the Prime Minister doesn’t expect most to tune into the campaign until the final weeks.

“People should read the question. If they read the question … I think a majority of Australians will come to an answer that there’s nothing to lose here. Only upside,” he said in Adelaide ahead of the campaign launch.

Mr Albanese said when “you get rid of all the noise” there was little difference between his position and the Liberals’ position on the Voice despite their “alarmist rhetoric.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce a date later today. Picture: NCA Newswire

“ … they say they support recognition in our constitution. They say they support legislating a Voice,” the Prime Minister said.

“The only difference is that Aboriginal people have asked that it be enshrined in the constitution, so it can’t simply be gotten rid of with a stroke of a pen.”

A declaration today will give the Yes campaign six weeks to turn the tide for Indigenous constitutional recognition, as recent opinion polls suggest support has been flagging.

South Australia is expected to be a key battleground, and recent opinion polls have earmarked the state, along with Tasmania, for a tight race.

– With NCA Newswire