Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition must distance himself from the 'no' campaign's president, Gary Johns. Everybody has the right in this referendum to put forward their views, but the views expressed by Mr Johns on blood testing, Indigenous incarceration and interracial marriage are disturbing, divisive and irrelevant to the referendum debate. These are not just historic comments. These are comments he has repeated and supported as early as last week. The risk now is that this historic referendum will be used not to have a robust debate about the Constitution but to weaponise extremist views. The risk is that the 'no' campaign will be hijacked and used as a vehicle for these outdated agendas. That risk is materialising, as the president of the 'no' campaign uses his position to express irrelevant and disturbing positions. Already, Liberals for Yes have called on Mr Johns to step down from the 'no' campaign. Now we're waiting for the Leader of the Opposition to show some leadership and call on Mr Johns to step down, because with him at the helm the 'no' campaign has strayed beyond constitutional change and become a platform for discredited views.

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