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

The Albanese government made a political calculation that dividing Australia through the Voice referendum would work in their favour. That was confirmed by the Sydney Morning Herald report today that Labor's national secretary briefed Labor MPs this week that they were hoping for the coalition to suffer damage as a result of the Voice referendum.

This strategy of division has never been so clearly encapsulated than by comments from the Albanese-government-appointed adviser Marcia Langton, who said: 'Every time the "no" case raises one of their arguments, if you start pulling it apart you get down to base racism. I'm sorry to say it, but that's where it lands—or just sheer stupidity.' Could you get a more divisive or a more inflammatory statement than calling the reasons to vote no, reasons which are supported by millions of Australians, including many Indigenous Australians, 'racist' and 'stupid'?

The arguments of the 'no' campaign are outlined in the official AEC referendum booklet. The case for voting no outlines that the government's proposal is risky, unknown, divisive and permanent. I was one of those who helped write the 'no' statement, outlining these principles along with many colleagues in this place, including Senator Nampijinpa Price. Clearly, we were right to point out that this Voice proposal is divisive, as demonstrated by Ms Langton's recent insults. We said that Australians should have details of how the Voice would work before the vote, not after it. The 'yes' campaign now claims that it's racism and sheer stupidity for Australians to ask to be told specifically what they're voting to be put into the Constitution before they vote for it. And we said it would be permanent, which is exactly what was intended by the 'yes' campaign. That permanency means that if the referendum succeeds then this tactic of being labelled stupid and racist if you disagree with something that the Voice, or members of the Voice, have said it will be used again and again to bully the Australian public into accepting whatever is demanded. The 'yes' campaign and the Albanese government have, from day one, banked on being able to intimidate Australians into voting yes with all of this rhetoric, along with celebrity appearances and tens of millions of dollars in corporate donations.

This Labor government promised that it would cut the cost of living for all Australians but, as the cost of living skyrockets, the only ones doing better under Labor are major corporations like Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank, who are bankrolling the Voice campaign. We've seen time and again Indigenous communities and elders from across Australia telling us that the Voice hasn't been explained or simply won't work or make a difference. In my own state of Tasmania, many Indigenous groups don't support the Voice. We've seen Australians, like my brave colleague Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and Warren Mundine, speaking out and explaining why the government should not be dividing Australia as it is. In return for offering their voice, the voice the Prime Minister claims doesn't exist unless he wins the referendum, they have been subject to disgraceful levels of vitriol.

From the moment the Prime Minister and the Indigenous affairs minister called a media event with Shaq O'Neill, it was obvious this referendum wasn't going to be about the views of Australians. They brought out Shaq to spin their narrative that the world would think badly of us if we say no to a divisive, elitist and unevidenced push to change our Constitution. The government of Australia has actively sought to enlist the views of foreign celebrities to pressure Australians into changing our Constitution. Then came the Prime Minister, standing next to Alan Joyce, reading out Qantas's trademarked advertising slogan at a media event spruiking the Voice, even as the ACCC was investigating Qantas for selling tickets to flights that didn't exist. At every turn, the 'yes' campaign has used celebrities, corporate funding and insults to make their case. That's divisive, that's elitist and that is disrespectful to all Australians.