Noel Pearson warns of high cost if No vote on Indigenous voice to parliament succeeds

The Cape York leader tells the No camp against the voice that a failed referendum would be a big loss for them too | WATCH

Cape York Indigenous leader Noel Pearson. Picture: Getty Images

Cape York leader Noel Pearson has issued a subtle message for the “progressive No” campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament, hinting that a failed referendum would be a big loss for them too.

While Anthony Albanese has repeatedly characterised the voice as modest in his appeals to undecided and conservative voters, the radical and hard left see this as its flaw.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe is among those who consider the voice as weak.

Mr Pearson was speaking at a voice forum in the Torres Strait this week when he indirectly addressed any voter who believes Australia should hold out for something more substantial than an advisory body with no power of veto.

“I want to tell you a No outcome will come at a great cost to the country,” Mr Pearson said. “We and the country will pay a big cost if we lose this referendum

“It’s not like football game: ‘we lost last weekend’.

“It’s not even like a grand final: ‘yeah bit of pain but we look forward to next year to have another go’.

“It’s not like that. This is something that we might never have a go at again for a very, very long time.”

A video and audio recording of the forum shows Mr Pearson using hand gestures to indicate the voice was at head height while other, more ambitious proposals were high up in the air. If the voice failed at head height, he indicated, a sky-high proposal would not succeed.

Still gesturing with his hands, Mr Pearson argued that a failed referendum would leave Indigenous Australians asking for less not more.

“And if they say no to that (the voice), you think they’re going to say yes to that (more ambitious proposal)?’” he said.

Mr Pearson lowered his hand to waist height as he told the forum: “If they say no (to the voice), next time you will be talking about whether they will say yes to this (less ambitious proposal)”.

“This is why it’s so important,” Mr Pearson said.

“This is not costless. It has a cost attached to it.”

The Yes campaign has demonstrated broad Indigenous support for the voice, including from cultural leaders in some of the nation’s most remote communities such as across northeast Arnhem Land, in the central western desert, in the Torres Strait and in the Pilbara, Gascoyne and Murchison regions of Western Australia.

Elected land councils across the breadth of Australia’s north are also united in their support.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council chair Michael Mansell is opposed in part because he prefers a quota system of Indigenous seats in parliament.

One of the most active voice opponents from the “progressive No” camp has recently decided to vote Yes. South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council chairwoman Megan Krakouer, who represents 30,000 Noongar people from Perth and communities to its south and east, had previously expressed disappointment with the voice. She now believes it is needed to help co-ordinate an effective response to the state’s Indigenous youth suicide crisis.