Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We had a very successful series of community events in support of the 'no' campaign for the Voice referendum in southern Tasmania during the parliamentary recess. I was very happy to host my friend and colleague, the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs, Senator Nampijinpa Price, while she was down for them. Hundreds of Tasmanians showed up to a number of events across the state to hear the case for the 'no' campaign and it was a very important opportunity for Tasmanians to hear the voices that this government doesn't want heard.

This is the hypocrisy of the Albanese government's tactics. They claim to need an Indigenous voice, and yet they are using the power of the state—with all of their resources and their spin doctors and their media management—to discourage Australians hearing from Senator Nampijinpa Price and from Indigenous leaders from around Australia, including my home state of Tasmania, who do not support dividing Australia in the way that this Prime Minister wants to. I was very pleased to be able to speak at some events in Hobart with Senator Nampijinpa Price.

I can attest that it is certainly not lost on those who came along that the Prime Minister is more than happy to bring in overseas celebrities for media stunts, telling Australians we have to change our Constitution, and yet he also wants to shut down Australian voices. They are seeing the Prime Minister and his ministers hide the details of his proposed body from Australians while demanding that we vote to embed something that this government won't even explain into our country's Constitution. Thank you to the hundreds of Tasmanians who turned out across our state, not just in Hobart, to hear the facts and the voices that the government doesn't want heard. My friend in the other place, the member for Braddon, Gavin Pearce, also hosted some forums up in his neck of the woods, and I understand they were likewise well attended. It was a great opportunity for the 'no' campaign to get out and about in Tasmania.