Shark Tank star lists eight reasons he opposes Voice to parliament

A renowned Shark Tank ‘shark’ has been highlighted as one of the country’s loudest No campaigners, describing the Voice as “fantasy”.

Shark Tank Australia’s “grumpy investor” Steve Baxter has been loudly campaigning against the Voice, arguing the Yes23 campaign is a “sheet of lies, half truths and fantasy”.

The 52-year-old has taken to Twitter to argue his case.

It was in response to a list of eight reasons everyday Australians should vote Yes in the referendum — which is expected to be put to the public between October and December.

That numerical list broke down what the Voice was and what its purpose would be.

The eight points were:

1. The Voice will give independent advice to the parliament and government.

2. The Voice will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people based on the wishes of local communities.

3. The Voice will be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander communities, gender balanced and include youth.

4. The Voice will be empowering, community led, inclusive, respectful, and culturally informed.

5. The Voice will be accountable and transparent.

6. The Voice will work alongside existing organisations and traditional structures.

7. The Voice will not deliver programs.

8. The Voice will not have a veto power.

Steve Baxter, far left, is one of Australia’s loudest No campaigners.

Mr Baxter, who has changed his Twitter handle to include the hashtag “#voteno”, responded to each point with a list of his own, writing:

1. Mostly true but no requirement in referendum for independent.

2. To be decided by parliament if it passes, so will be negotiated through the processes of government (horse trading).

3. See point 2.

4. Fantasy and see point 2.

5. If some voice reps to be appointed then how is this transparent, and see point 2.

6. Fantasy

7. Probably not but see point 2.

8. The Voice will exercise power through the courts to see that their right to provide advice is given due weight under administrative law to be considered hence creating an opportunity for procedural delays giving leverage.

A sheet of lies, half truths and fantasy. The voice is the fruit of the poison tree because it gives race based access to politics, but a critical response required to these 8 points. #voteno

1. Mostly true but no requirement in referendum for independent.
2. To be decided by… https://t.co/lArAHh98OM

— Steve Baxter (aka Foxy Loxy #voteno) (@sbxr) July 15, 2023

In the same tweet, he described the list as a “sheet of lies, half truths and fantasy” and argued the Voice was “the fruit of the poison tree because it gives race based access to politics”.

The list was just one in a long line of posts opposing the expression of Indigenous voices.

In a tweet shared on Thursday, he described a Welcome to Country acknowledgment as “bullsh**”.

“Just sat through another bulls*** welcome to country. The chap delivering it was pretty funny but it went 3x the duration of the anthem. And at the end the divisive little person recommended we all watch a biased SBS doco on border wars, about colonisation or some such thing,” he wrote, claimed that “every dumb Welcome to Country creates new #voteno voters”.

He also previously took aim at retailer Big W, criticising the Woolworths Group-owned business for playing a Welcome to Country in its stores.

Mr Baxter opposes the Welcome to Country and called on followers to boycott Big W.

Mr Baxter shared an article from The Australian that highlighted the store’s decision to remove a reference to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and revert to a version with just a Welcome to Country.

He wrote that Big W played “welcome to country and yes propaganda in store” and argued “you can’t make this stuff up”.

In the same post, he said: “The virtuous group BIG W is part of ..... in 2021 they stopped 5 year battle to put Dan Murphy’s a short distance from 3 dry communities”.

On the same day, he shared another tweet telling his followers to “boycott Big W”.

“Was it a requirement for staff to read a political message over the PA? Were and staff disciplined/threatened for not doing? Keep out of politics. Cripes,” he wrote.

Shark receives mixed reaction

Responses to Mr Baxter’s controversial social media posts have been mixed, with some people joining his No campaign while others have been left shaking their head.

Responding to his Big W critique, one Twitter user argued the retailer’s move was commendable.

“It’s not politics. It’s an expression of their values. It’s an alignment and support of their staff and customers. … you used to talk about this stuff all the time as assumed business practice,” they wrote.

Others argued that “voting No benefits no one”, while others likened Big W’s Welcome to Country to playing the national anthem.

“Welcome to country playing is just going to show people how absurd it is. It’s like playing the national anthem in store. Welcome to country might make sense at an event you’d have the national anthem at. Not your staff meeting,” they wrote.

It comes as a bombshell new poll suggests that support for the No case is growing and has now overtaken support for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

The new Newspoll, conducted for The Australian newspaper, shows that the Yes vote is failing the test of securing 50 per cent of the national vote and majorities in most states.

Male voters and Queenslanders are the biggest barriers to referendum success, while women and younger voters are the biggest supporters of change.

Speaking on The Today Show, Mr Albanese was asked, “Are you worried?.”

“Look, we’ll be out there putting the case,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“It’s hard to win a referendum in Australia. They’ve only been eight referendums passed out of 48, something like that.

“But we’ll continue to put the case for yes. And I’m very, very confident that as people mobilise when the campaign is actually on.You will have the union movement, sporting codes, every one of which have supported the constitutional change. You’ll have faith groups all out there arguing for a yes vote in this referendum, saying If not now, when? We need to get this done.

“It will be a moment of national unity and after it’s done, people will wonder why it wasn’t done earlier.”

Elsewhere, Mr Baxter was quick to celebrate after a Sydney Morning Herald journalist shared that according to a SMH poll, NSW had “slipped into [the] No camp”.

“Good. The defeat of this divisive proposal needs to be resounding,” Mr Baxter tweeted.

“No wrong answer from an election, just the answer. Don’t allocate access to politics on the basis of race. #voteno.”

Steve Baxter has been contacted for comment. Yes23 has also been contacted for comment.

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