Does Marcia Langton’s dismissal of No case signal the death knell of the Indigenous voice?

Marcia Langton addresses the the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Will Marcia Langton’s dismissal of the referendum No case as either “base racism or sheer stupidity” be the Indigenous voice’s campaign death knell as was Hillary Clinton’s dismissal of Donald Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables” in her US Presidential election campaign?

Will it be seen as Mark Latham’s aggressive handshake of a much older John Howard during the dying days of the 2004 election campaign?

It is too early judge, just as the full extent of Clinton’s gaffe was not recognised until later, but, as the Yes campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament flounders, loses momentum and is given up for being lost there cannot have been a worse intervention.

If the referendum fails there will be fingers pointed to the statements of the Yes supporter and architect of indigenous voice proposals on Sunday as an emotional turning point just as was Clinton’s dismissal of at least half of Trump’s supporters.

This will be especially the case if Yes campaigners are looking for someone to blame for the failure.

In all campaigns there can be a “turning point” or an emotional moment when a large body of voters is insulted and repelled and either changing the course of the campaign or confirming a trend.

There is no doubt the trend has been away from the Yes campaign and toward the No campaign as the months of preparations and process have progressed for the referendum model for an indigenous voice to Parliament and executive government.

Even Langton herself, while arguing there can still be victory because of the number of undecided voters, last week was talking about the need for a clear agenda from the government “as soon as possible”.

In the absence of substantive debate and detail the entire referendum debate sparked and spiralled from trivialities, gaffes, invective and insults from both sides for the months leading to the start of the formal campaign on Monday.

Bitterness has grown as the campaign has progressed with indigenous leaders trading barbs, politicisation of arguments, ubiquitous claims of misinformation, disinformation and lies, and enthusiastic “gotchas” from both sides for moments of lowering of the tone of the debate.

But, base racism is about as low as the tone can go.

What’s more, it’s not just the insult that damages the Yes campaign but also alienates potential “soft No” voters – the very target of last resort for the Yes campaign – and with only entrench opposition and hard decisions to vote no.

There are plenty of problems for the Yes campaign, but the direct accusation of base racism and its immediate impact on the political debate in parliament has to rate as one of the biggest and could well be seen as Clinton’s “deplorables” moment or that handshake.