‘Would take a miracle’: Senator shares all on The Voice in exclusive interview

Accompanying her sellout event at Rumours International Convention Centre, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price sat down with The Chronicle for an exclusive interview regarding her views on The Voice to parliament.

Accompanying her sellout event at Rumours International Convention Centre, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price sat down with The Chronicle for an exclusive interview regarding her views on The Voice to parliament.

The politician is currently at the centre of the debate after publicly opposing The Voice referendum and ‘Yes’ campaign in a nationwide tour of public forums.

Toowoomba’s event generated the largest crowd so far with an estimated 1400 people in attendance.

Referring to The Voice as one of the most ‘divisive’ issues Australia has faced, the Senator told The Chronicle “it would probably take a miracle for me to support it”.

Anti-Voice Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at a sold out Rumours International. Picture: Kevin Farmer

When asked what she believed the Australian government should be prioritising to close the gap, Ms Price said she believed the gap did not exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, but came down to differing levels of wealth and privilege.

“(The gap) exists between those who are doing relatively well in this country and those who are not,” she said.

“The further you move out of a major city and go into regional Australia, the more marginalised Australians become and that’s regardless of racial heritage.”

While the Senator said she was not suggesting all Indigenous Australians were marginalised, she felt efforts should be made to assist the most marginalised people living in remote communities, who’s first language is not English and who still live in “cultural confines”.

“We are being viewed, certainly by the prime minister, as though we are all inherently disadvantaged for no other reason than because of our racial heritage,” she said.

“I would suggest we need to get away from separatism … that’s what caused a lot of our issues – treating Indigenous Australians differently.

“In 1967 we had the referendum for equality – we achieved that – we need to maintain equality in that regard.”

Anti-Voice Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at a sold out Rumours International. Picture: Kevin Farmer

It comes after a poll which surveyed more than 1700 Toowoomba residents revealed the vast majority intended to vote no in referendum later this year.

The results were collected independently on behalf of the Federal Member of Groom Garth Hamilton, revealing 87 per cent of respondents were against The Voice.

“(The poll results) delightfully surprises me,” Ms Price said.

“I’ve had a long relationship with Toowoomba for many different reasons.

“It speaks about regional Australia and how people feel in comparison to the major cities.”

When asked what she would say to Indigenous Australians who were in support of The Voice referendum, Ms Price said she would “ask them to look further into the detail”.

Referencing the Aboriginal Heritage Cultural Act in Western Australia – a legislation amendment which aimed to protect Aboriginal heritage sites in the state and came into effect on July 1, but has since been reversed due to landowner protests, Ms Price said she felt The Voice could raise similar concerns.

“A bad law was created and the consequences were almost dire (but) they’ve repealed that,” she said.

“We can’t repeal those amendments once they’re made to our constitution – they’re permanent.”

Senator Price said she would like a forensic audit to be conducted to assess what the “billions of dollars” was being spent on to help marginalised Australians as she felt “it was not hitting the mark”.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price takes a moment backstage before speaking to a sold out Rumours International crowd. Picture: Kevin Farmer