Time to stop the Indigenous voice to parliament vitriol and move on, says Warren Mundine

Leading No advocate Warren Mundine has said the ‘vitriol’ and ‘hatred of people’ in the days after the referendum result are the ‘worst I’ve seen’.

Warren Mundine called on the Prime Minister to ‘pour cold water’ on post-vote verbal attacks. Picture: John Gass

Leading No advocate Warren Mundine has said the “vitriol” and “hatred of people” in the days after the referendum result are the “worst I’ve seen”.

Speaking to The Australian, Mr Mundine called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “pour cold water” on the lingering post-vote attacks to “calm the situation down”.

“We can’t go on as a country like this,” Mr Mundine said, referencing the egg attack on CLP senator Jacinta Price’s parents and threats to No voters across the country.

“I know of people that are scared – the threats we’ve seen and things happening are just as bad as what happened during the campaign,” he said.

The No advocate said he understood what the Yes camp – and its voters – were feeling, but that the country needed to “settle down” and “move forward” with closing the gap.

“I’ve been on the wrong end of a vote, it’s shattering when it happens, I understand that,” Mr Mundine said.

“But I didn’t go out and abuse people (for voting a different way).”

He said attacks from Yes supporters pertaining to alleged misinformation and education of No voters showed they were “still attacking the public”.

“I know that both Yes and No voters want to get things working for First Nations people struggling in terrible conditions – let’s put personal things aside, we can’t keep throwing rocks at each other,” he said.