ARC conference, London: Senator Jacinta Price accuses Yes campaign of ‘emotional blackmail’
In a keynote speech at the inaugural Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, Jacinta Price accuses the Yes campaign of ‘emotional blackmail’.
Jacinta Price has called for an end to separatism and racial division after the failed voice referendum, accusing the Yes campaign of “emotional blackmail” and seeking to “tear down” Australia’s constitutional settlement with little genuine regard to the living standards of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In a speech in London, the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party senator, fresh from her leadership role in the defeat of the voice referendum, advocated for “no more separatism, no more dividing us along the lines of race, no more political correctness, no more identity politics”.
“They tried to teach everyday Australians that we belong to a racist country, tried to teach our children that they shouldn’t be proud to call themselves Australian, tried to suggest that if you voted No that you belonged to the wrong side of history – well, we showed them,” she told an audience of influential political, business and media figures.
A guest at the inaugural Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, Senator Price also told The Australian the ultimate goal of the Yes campaign was “a radical change to the Australian Constitution, a fundamental altering of our governing document, with a view to even more radical and fundamental changes to our country and society”.
The senator was speaking at the inaugural Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, which has drawn more than 1500 delegates from 71 countries, including numerous Australian current and former politicians such as Tony Abbott, Mark Latham, Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Dominic Perrottet.
Senator Price, who anchored the final session of day 2 of the three-day conservative jamboree, was introduced to a crowd of hundreds by a documentary about her journey from Alice Springs councillor to Northern Territory senator to de facto leader of the No campaign, which ultimately triumphed.
NOW: Jacinta Price closing out the day at ARC, talking about the recent Voice Referendum in Australia.
— The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (@arc_forum) October 31, 2023
"We have experienced a turning point in our nation with the result of our referendum. It has created hope. It has created unity. It has emboldened every day Australians." pic.twitter.com/xsODzr22uB
Despite an "elite wall of consensus never seen before, with the support of a small, committed group of campaign leaders, suburban and regional Australia said no."
— The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (@arc_forum) October 31, 2023
Hot on the heels of the recent Indigenous Voice referendum, Australia's Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor today… pic.twitter.com/NXbMIJTzEl
NOW: Jacinta Price closing out the day at ARC, talking about the recent Voice Referendum in Australia.
— The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (@arc_forum) October 31, 2023
"We have experienced a turning point in our nation with the result of our referendum. It has created hope. It has created unity. It has emboldened every day Australians." pic.twitter.com/xsODzr22uB
“While it led many Australians to genuinely believe that the voice was the last hope, that without this change the situations of those who most need our help will not improve, it was ultimately a story of blame,” Senator Price said.
Former deputy prime minister John Anderson, conservative UK politician Baroness Philippa Stroud and public intellectual Jordan Peterson were instrumental in establishing the event, which they hope will provide a vision for political and economic life rooted in freedom and traditional Judaeo-Christian values.
“They used a collectivist approach to link every Australian of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander into a single victim group with no regard for our differences,” Senator Price said of the voice campaign.
She added that some who “advocated the strongest support … had links to Marxism”.
“They drew no distinction between the well off and ever-increasing Indigenous middle class of the cities and urban areas, and the poorest, most marginalised in our country who live in rural and remote Australia”.
The failure of the voice referendum last month animated more than one speech on the second day of the conference. Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, also a delegate, said defeat of the voice had highlighted how universities and the metropolitan elites held starkly difference beliefs from the rest of the country.
He said resource and time poor regional and suburban Australians had triumphed over a powerful coalition of “big business, government bureaucracies, state premiers, most media commentators, celebrities, sporting clubs, cultural institutions, professional associations, religious leaders and universities”.
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