Rio Tinto’s first Indigenous director Ben Wyatt says campaign against voice has likely had maximum impact

The campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament has revealed its arguments and it has likely had it maximum impact­, ­according to Rio Tinto director Ben Wyatt.

Ben Wyatt.

The campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament has revealed its arguments and it has likely had it maximum impact­, ­according to Rio Tinto director Ben Wyatt.

“Obviously the No campaign is having an impact, but I’m still quite optimistic about the outcome,” Mr Wyatt said.

“I think the Yes campaign ­momentum will continue to increase and the No campaign, I think they’ve made their arguments, it’s probably had its maximum impact and then the Yes campaign certainly has the ­capacity now to deal with the concerns raised.”

Mr Wyatt is credited with pulling Western Australia out of debt as treasurer in Mark McGowan’s Labor government between 2017 and 2021. He is an Indigenous man and longtime advocate of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for an Indigenous voice.

He believes the voice can help settle a national approach to public policy issues such as outstanding compensation liability for impacts on native title. Following a landmark ruling by the High Court in 2019 that compensation was payable, individual claims are being dealt with on a case-by-case basis in the Federal Court.

Mr Wyatt has joined the boards of resource companies Rio Tinto and Woodside. He is a nephew of former federal Liberal MP and Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt and since leaving politics has spoken publicly about the need for an Indigenous voice to inform better policy.

“Clear, positive, optimistic messages about how the voice will have a direct impact on the lives of Aboriginal people is the clear message and that’s certainly the message I give when I give my speeches about the voice,” Mr Wyatt said.

“A campaign based around an unknown, if you like, or something new is much easier to campaign against rather than to campaign in support of something.

“But the simple proposition I always put back – if I find that point that we can all have consensus – is, do we accept that Aboriginal policy does not deliver the outcomes we’d like?

“And I think the overwhelming majority of reasonable Australians would agree with that concept. Do we have overwhelming proof that when we engage and speak with Aboriginal people around the development and implementation of policy gets a better outcome? Yes, we do. Which leads you to the fact that with the voice, there’s minimal downside risk and enormous, enormous upside opportunity.”

The capacity for the voice to advise on practical change is ­expected to be the focus of Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney’s speech to the ­National Press Club next week.

The Yes campaign is aware that it must show not only that ­Indigenous people have solutions to the problems in their communities, but that their knowledge has been disregarded if it ever reaches the top of the political and bureaucratic systems where important decisions are made.