‘Dog’ act: Noel Pearson unleashes on all sides

Noel Pearson has broken his long silence since the defeat of the Indigenous voice with an excoriating critique of both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.

Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson in Brisbane on Friday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

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Noel Pearson has broken his long silence since the defeat of the ­Indigenous voice with an excoriating critique of both Anthony ­Albanese and Peter Dutton, likening the Prime Minister to a “Houdini” who has run from ­Aboriginal policy and the vanquished Liberal leader as one of the greatest victims of his own campaign against the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Mr Pearson, a veteran of every chapter in Indigenous policy since Mabo, says the past 18 months under Labor have been “the most forlorn in the history of Indigenous affairs” with no serious policy or program progress.

The Cape York leader argues that, since Australians voted No to a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous advisory body in October 2023, Canberra has been paranoid about provoking further attacks from the politician credited with sinking it – opposition ­Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Writing in The Australian, he says Mr Dutton reaped the immediate rewards of opposing the voice. “This was a dog worth kicking,” Mr Pearson says. “Every yelp of pain, every broken rib, accrued more likes in social media and in the polls. Kicking the voice was a gift that kept giving.

But, he says, Mr Dutton was seemingly unaware he had missed his chance to transform his “hard-ass persona” and become a supportable prime minister. “Along with the black fellas, Peter Dutton is the biggest victim of the failure of the voice,” Mr Pearson says.

As Mr Albanese on Friday reunited with his Labor caucus in Canberra after a stunning election landslide, Mr Pearson labels the Prime Minister “shameless” for stepping back from Indigenous policy and focusing on issues that would save his government.

“Albanese’s great achievement in this election was the dexterity with which he extricated himself from its liability, and recovered his prime ministership and electoral supremacy. Houdini would have been impressed,” Mr Pearson writes.

“Albanese and Labor had to run away fast from their association with the voice and black fellas. For their opponents were now seeking to hang the albatross of the voice around Labor’s throat.

“This Albanese did from the first night. To me it was shameless, but I’m enough of a realist to know that without the assiduous flight from the voice over this past year and a half, last Saturday’s ­result for Labor would not have been possible.”

Mr Albanese barely mentioned Indigenous policy during the 2025 election campaign. After the referendum defeat, his government shifted to uncontentious practical measures such as investment in Northern Territory housing, a proposal for Indigenous economic empowerment and a boost to the Indigenous Procurement Policy that the Coalition created. Privately, Indigenous leaders said these were approaches in place since the Howard ­government.

Mr Albanese was quick to ­declare the voice was “gone” after Foreign Minister Penny Wong suggested during the campaign that it was unfinished business.

Mr Pearson writes: “All political capital on behalf of Indigenous Australians was spent – the ­account was indeed overdrawn – and there was no prospect for anything in the remainder of the first term. Or in my view, from a second. There was nothing from the Prime Minister in 2024, and again in 2025. These 18 months past have been the most forlorn in the history of indigenous affairs. There has been no serious policy or program progress.” Mr Pearson argues that the government was very worried about Senator Price – who has this week defected to the Liberals as a part of a plot to make Angus Taylor the party’s new leader. While Senator Price was the ­undisputed star of the No campaign, Mr Pearson calls her “a one-trick pony”.

“Extreme paranoia permeated everything to do with black fellas in Canberra, even in relation to subjects far removed from the voice,” Mr Pearson writes.

“This past Easter, black fellas were like Jesus in Gethsemene: Peter (the disciple, not the politician) was in full denial mode, not wanting any association with his poor, old mate. The bureaucrats and their ministers were all ­‘obeying in advance’, every calculation was made through the prism: what controversy will ­Jacinta make of this?

“For Price, this election is her denouement as a one-trick pony. Her great power came from her willingness to take up the mantle against her own people, and 61 per cent of Australians rejoiced in the relief from history which she gave them. You can’t just replay your greatest single hit and expect to have a political career of any substance. She has served her ­purpose. There is nothing left in her bag of tricks. All she is good for is to play the old hit single again and again.”

As the Liberal Party deliberates on whether to move to the centre or further to the right in its policies, Mr Pearson makes a forceful case that Mr Dutton was a political leader for whom the voice was a political anti-venom rather than the poisonous venom it ­became for Mr Albanese and everyone else.

“Dutton relished the immediate rewards of opposing the voice, but the cost would not come until last weekend’s poll,” he writes.

Mr Pearson says pollster Mark Textor had advised Scott Morrison’s government then Peter Dutton’s opposition that the voice was good politics for the Liberals. He showed them the numbers.

“One half of the most successful centre-right political advisory firm in the world, Crosby Textor, was telling his former clients that it was in their electoral interests to tack to the centre with the voice. Textor’s advice did not prevail,” Mr Pearson writes.

He says Mr Dutton understood the voice could be an opportunity or threat to his ambitions to become prime minister. He sees Mr Dutton’s initial decision to give the Indigenous affairs portfolio to voice supporter Julian Leeser as proof he was serious about the possibility the Coalition could support it.

Mr Pearson says it was Senator Price who ultimately took the decision out of Mr Dutton’s hands. This was because the Nationals came out against the voice first, led by Senator Price’s opposition to it.

“And the rest is history,” Mr Pearson writes. “Dutton’s winnings for saying No came fast and thick … (the) success of the campaign against the voice was so comprehensive and in the absence of Albanese’s adroitness, would have proved the rule that Australians always give first time governments a second chance, by exception.”

Mr Pearson says there was glee not grace from the victors and they deluded themselves.

“ … kicking black fellas is the easiest and most lucrative politics in Australia,” Mr Pearson writes.

However, he says Nationals turned independent MP Andrew Gee was right when he warned the Coalition before the voice referendum that it was burning a swath in its supporter base because there were lots of people on the conservative side of politics who support the voice.

Mr Gee, a Yes voter, left the ­Nationals over their opposition to the Voice and was re-elected against a Nationals challenger on Saturday.