Voice opponents turn to ‘Trump-like’ politics, misinformation: Burney

Campaigners against the Indigenous Voice referendum are copying Donald Trump by weaponising misinformation, Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney has declared, as Voice backers implore Australians to keep faith in the reconciliation push.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has spent months attacking the Voice and reacted to polling in this masthead, showing the No side ahead for the first time, by urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to walk back the ambition of the referendum and cut out the Voice body to focus on the simpler proposal of recognising Indigenous people in the Constitution.

Burney with Indigenous leaders in March.Credit: Rhett Wyman

As the Liberal Party and former prime minister John Howard launched a fundraising drive to defeat the referendum, top Indigenous leaders expressed optimism it would succeed as debate moved “out of the Canberra bubble and into backyards” following next week’s passing of referendum legislation.

“Keep the faith. History is calling,” said leading Voice architects Megan Davis and Pat Anderson, asserting support was solid among voters spoken to in dozens of Uluru Dialogues events.

Albanese echoed their hopefulness, telling Labor MPs he remained confident about the referendum, due to be held between October and December, to which he has staked his authority.

Burney used a speech in Canberra on Tuesday night to claim the Voice would lead to tangible improvements in society and a “more productive Australia, with greater social and economic participation”, while highlighting the No campaign’s “post-truth approach to politics”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has actively campaigned against the proposal.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I fear that the No campaign is importing American-style Trump politics to Australia,” she said. “Its aim is to polarise people and its weapon of choice is misinformation.”

“No campaign outfit, Fair Australia, regularly posts things on social media that are clearly false or taken out of context.”

Yes23 director Dean Parkin said some polling shows much greater support for the Yes vote.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Citing examples of the No grouping misleadingly suggesting former prime minister Bob Hawke opposed constitutional recognition and wrongly claiming the grandson of Indigenous leader Vincent Lingiari opposed the Voice, Burney positioned the Voice as a positive and practical solution.

“The Yes campaign is articulating a positive vision of Australia’s future … the Australian people are better than Trump politics from the No campaign,” she said.

Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin pointed to polling by research firm Essential showing 60-40 support for the Voice that contradicts polling by other firms showing a much tighter contest.

“The conversation has been really caught up in the Canberra bubble with politicians and lawyers having their say. Now thankfully that process is almost due to end,” he said on Sky News.

Marcus Stewart, another prominent Voice campaigner, said: “Ultimately the polls that we see on the news are at a disconnect to the conversations that I’m seeing on the ground”.

Speaking to Coalition MPs at a party room meeting, Dutton said Labor should perform a U-turn on its referendum proposal because a Resolve Strategic poll – showing the No side ahead at 51-49 – showed “the best case is that the Voice gets up by a slim majority and that the country is divided”.

“Labor have rejected all chances and all suggestions to give the referendum its best chance of success,” he said, according to a spokesperson for the opposition who detailed Dutton’s private comments.

“There is an opportunity now for the prime minister to unify the country and that’s through constitutional recognition without a constitutionally enshrined Voice, and we will work with the prime minister to do this.”

In Senate debate on the referendum bill on Tuesday, Greens Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Dorinda Cox urged Australians to get to know Aboriginal people before voting in the referendum and said the 11 Indigenous federal MPs were insufficient to help close the gap. “We have different views, we come from different parties and different parts of this beautiful country,” she said.

Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash said in the same debate that the Voice would cause the nation to be “irreparably damaged forever”.

Dutton’s party machine launched a campaign on Tuesday to garner donations supporting the Liberal Party’s campaign against the Voice.

Party supporters received an email signed off by former prime minister John Howard, warning about the way in which the Voice could change the way government works.

“The Liberal team will highlight these risks to everyday Australians,” it said. “However, making these arguments in the face of political, corporate and celebrity support for the Yes campaign will be a challenge.”

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