Indigenous voice to parliament Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo’s radical vision

The pro-voice unionist described former prime minister John Howard as a ‘bastard’ and threatened that politicians will be ‘punished’ if they ignore the voice advisory body.

Thomas Mayo appears alongside Anthony Albanese and other members of the First Nations Referendum Working Group in March to unveil the wording of the constitutional amendment at Parliament House. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

Prominent Yes campaigner for the Indigenous voice to parliament Thomas Mayo has described former prime minister John Howard as a “bastard” and threatened that politicians would be “punished” if they ignored the voice advisory body.

The militant unionist and outspoken figure on the government’s First Nations referendum working group has also raised the prospect of a voice to parliament being the first step towards “reparations and compensation” for Indigenous Australians.

Videos unearthed by No campaign strategists feature Mr Mayo appearing in online forums run by the Search Foundation – established in 1990 as a “successor ­organisation of the Communist Party of Australia” to preserve the socialist movement.

The Maritime Union of Australia national Indigenous officer also delivered provocative statements in videos filmed at Invasion Day, Black Lives Matters and May Day rallies held between 2021 and 2023.

“Every time, comrades, that we have established a voice as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the bastards have taken it away from us,” Mr Mayo told a May Day rally in Port Kembla last month.

“And let me tell you a story about how we can relate to that. John Howard, do you remember that bastard? John Howard, do you think he wants normal people, workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have a voice? No, he doesn’t.”

Legislation approving the constitutional amendment, which was unveiled on March 23 by Anthony Albanese and referendum working group members including Mr Mayo, is expected to pass through the parliament on Monday. Mr Albanese has previously described the change as “modest”.

Amid plunging support for the voice referendum in opinion polls and divisions among Yes campaigners over strategy and language, Noel Pearson last week suggested the focus should be on constitutional recognition ahead of the voice advisory body.

Yes23 campaigners, who say their tracking polling and larger samples reflect stronger support for their side, are planning a long game armed with greater resources and funding than the No ­campaign.

Mr Mayo, one of the strongest backers of a voice body, in 2021 told the Search Foundation that the power of the voice was its ability to “punish politicians that ignore our advice” on legislation and funding.

At an Invasion Day rally the same year, the author and former wharfie said “we need the constitutional right to have a united voice … we need the power of the Constitution behind us so we can organise like we’ve never organised before”.

“We are sick of governments telling us no, we are sick of governments not listening to our voice. We are going to use the rule book of the nation to force them,” he said.

In another video, Mr Mayo said the voice was a “vital step” in delivering outcomes detailed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

“‘Pay the Rent’ for example, how do we do that in a way that is transparent and that actually sees reparations and compensation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people beyond what we say and do at a rally?” he said.

The Northern Territory-based Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait ­Islander man in 2020 said truth was “leverage”: “It is a way to further what we need for our people in any negotiations for treaties and for other things like legislation, reform and abolishment of the old colonial institutions.”

In another Search Foundation video, he discusses the need to build “representative structures” not unlike those used by unions and Communists.

Mr Mayo sits on the board of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, which is leading the Yes23 campaign, alongside co-chairs Danny Gilbert and Rachel Perkins, and directors Michael Chaney, Tony Nutt, Mark Textor, Karen Mundine and Lachlan Harris.

Mr Mayo – co-author of The Voice to Parliament Handbook with veteran journalist Kerry O’Brien – said “unfortunately, some of the policy decisions that have been made in the past, have been harmful and divisive”.

“I don’t believe there is anything wrong with pointing that out,” Mr Mayo told The Australian. “We have seen past policy decisions widen the gap, causing a chasm, rather than healing the wound. I strongly believe that this referendum can bring about positive change.

“As I’ve travelled around the country over the past six years, speaking to all kinds of interest groups, including people from all political persuasions, I have sought to bridge the gap by ­helping them to see it from their perspective. I stand by this referendum being a unifying proposal, it is about peace and love and that is purely my interest for this ­country.”

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman and No campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says Thomas Mayo’s ‘divisive statements were not made in secret but were said very publicly and proudly’. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who is working closely with right-wing activist group Advance on the No campaign, said Mr Mayo’s “divisive statements were not made in secret, but were said very publicly and proudly”.

“These shocking revelations speak to the aggressive and radical agenda behind the Voice and destroy once and for all the myth that this massive change to our Constitution is ‘a modest request’,” Senator Price said.

“He is very clear that the intention, the goal, the ambition of the Voice and this referendum is to divide Australians.”

Mr Nutt, who sits on the AICR board and was principal adviser to Mr Howard, told The Australian that “Thomas is from the Left of politics and I am from the Right”.

The former federal director of the Liberal Party said: “We could find lots to disagree about including John Howard, who I like and respect. What both Thomas and I do agree on is support for the referendum proposal.”