Keith Pitt calls for Australians to ‘put the country back together’ after Voice defeat

After his electorate voted overwhelmingly in opposition to the Voice to Parliament proposal, Nationals MP Keith Pitt has called for Australians to ‘put the country back together’.

National Party MP for Hinkler Keith Pitt said he was “heartened” by the overwhelming rejection of the Voice to Parliament proposal in Saturday’s referendum.

More than 80 per cent of Hinkler residents voted against the proposal, in an emphatic repudiation of what Mr Pitt described as the government’s “vanity project”.

“The Australian people have spoken and thoroughly rejected the proposition put forward by the Prime Minister,” Mr Pitt said in a statement released on Sunday.

“People desperately wanted detail, it wasn’t provided, people wanted to know how the proposed Voice would make a difference to Aboriginal Australians and again, there was no information.

“The cost of the referendum is estimated to be about $450m with Federal Labor allocating $364m in the most recent budget for the referendum.

“That money could have been invested in helping Aboriginal Australians, but instead it was spent on the Prime Minister and the Labor Party’s vanity project.”

LNP MP for Flynn Colin Boyce made a Facebook post saying "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are one and free" after the referendum result was declared on Saturday evening.

Mr Pitt thanked the volunteers who campaigned in support of the Nationals Party messaging that the Voice would “split the country”.

“I want to thank all of the volunteers, especially those that might never have campaigned before, who came out and showed their support,” Mr Pitt said.

“The National Party came to a position very early on the proposed Voice and it was always a values-based decision: you don’t split the country, in Australia everyone gets an equal say in our democracy and I am heartened that the Australian people listened to that message.

“It’s up to all of us now to put the country back together and do what needs to be done.”

On Saturday night, LNP MP for Flynn made a Facebook post saying “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are one and free” including an image of leading No campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine and Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pledged to push ahead with reconciliation while acknowledging the community’s “strong feedback” against the Voice proposal.

Originally published as Keith Pitt calls for Australians to ‘put the country back together’ after Voice defeat