Voice referendum: Kerrynne Liddle says corporates should match Yes23 gifts to other causes

Liberal MP Kerrynne Liddle has challenged companies that donated to the voice campaign to give the same amount to organisations in need.

Coalition frontbenchers Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Kerrynne Liddle will review the opposition’s Indigenous affairs policies ahead of the election. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Liberal frontbencher Kerrynne Liddle has called on companies that donated to the Yes campaign for an Indigenous voice to parliament to give the same amount of money to organisations supporting children and victims of domestic violence.

In the wake of the No vote at Saturday’s referendum, Senator Liddle – who with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will review the ­Coalition’s Indigenous affairs policies to take to the next election – said she remained supportive of constitutional recognition but there was no immediate appetite for another referendum.

Anthony Albanese took aim at Peter Dutton on Monday for backflipping on his commitment to hold a second referendum for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, noting the Opposition Leader had “committed during the recent referendum to hold another one”.

“On repeated times before ... people voted on Saturday, he gave a solemn promise that he would support a second referendum being held,” the Prime Minister said.

“I note that there has been a change of position again from the opposition when it comes to constitutional recognition.”

Mr Dutton on Monday morning backed away from a second referendum, saying it was “clear the Australian public is probably over the referendum process for some time”.

Several companies, individuals and groups who supported the voice donated multimillion-dollar gifts to the Yes camp, including the big four banks, BHP, Rio Tinto, Wesfarmers, Anthony Pratt and the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

The Yes campaign denied claims from the No camp that its war chest would reach $100m but had said it expected to reach at least $50m through its Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition funding vehicle.

Prominent stockbroker Angus Aitken has told his corporate clients that Yes-supporting company directors should pay back the money they donated to the pro-voice campaign to shareholders.

“If I was a shareholder in these large corporates that were heavy YES donors I would be asking why they used shareholders funds not their own and it would be the same if they all donated to NO -there is no need for big corporates to have been donating to either side,” Mr Aitken wrote.

“The directors of these major donors should pay back the money from their own pockets to shareholders and that is where the donations should have come from in the first place, it is not these big corporates jobs to tell people how to vote on issues like this.”

Senator Liddle said companies that had enthusiastically endorsed the voice campaign should match it to organisations in need.

“Those ones that actually threw money at this campaign and dipped into their foundations that are there for charitable purpose, I’d like to see them match that and put it into organisations to support children and victims of domestic violence right now,” Senator ­Liddle told The Australian.

“Why don’t you do something decent with your money and actually put that money – because you can get a tax deduction for that -– equal to (the) amount of money you put towards this referendum that just completely failed? Because if you took it from the foundation, then those people have missed out. Double it, give it back to the people that it belongs to.”

Senator Liddle, who is the opposition’s child protection and prevention of family violence spokeswoman, would not say whether the Coalition should take constitutional recognition to the next election, as it did in 2022.

“I support constitutional recognition, so to do that you need to have a referendum,” the South Australian senator said. “But what I don’t support is that we go headlong back into it again.”

Asked if she remained supportive of local and regional voices, Senator Liddle said: “I’ve always said we should be focused on ­people in the regions … they are the people doing it the toughest.”

A group of 31 philanthropic groups that donated $17m to the Yes23 campaign defended their support for the voice following Saturday’s No vote.

Paul Ramsay Foundation chief executive Kristy Muir, whose foundation donated $5m to the Yes23 campaign, said “philanthropy’s support did not begin with the referendum, nor will it end”.

“This referendum result will strengthen philanthropy’s dedication and commitment to ensure First Nations voices are recognised and heard,” a joint statement from philanthropic funders for the Yes campaign said.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said he did not think the nation needed to “rush into a second referendum” and the public did not “need to go through that until proper processes are undertaken”.

Mr Dutton again urged the government to work with the ­Coalition on establishing a royal commission into child sexual abuse in Indigenous communities and conducting an audit into Indigenous spending programs, and appealed for Mr Albanese to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the Coalition.

“If people are willing to grow up and listen and act and show leadership instead of weakness – which is where the Prime Minister’s been – we can start to make some change,” he said.

Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese needed to ensure he was not “being dictated to by activists and people who are out of touch in corporate boards around the country, and start listening and acting”.