Former prime minister Tony Abbott has slammed the Voice campaign, saying this generation of Aboriginal Australians are ‘not victims’ and their counterparts are ‘not oppressors’.
Mr Abbott gave the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday morning at The Star Convention Centre in Sydney.
‘This generation of Aboriginal Australians are not victims,’ he told the crowd full of cheers.
‘This generation of non Aboriginal Australians are not oppressors, and the last thing that we should be doing right now is entrenching victimhood and institutionalising grievance in our governance arrangements.
‘That is why there can only be one response to this referendum proposal, and it is an absolutely resounding no.’
Mr Abbott gave the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday morning at The Star Convention Centre in Sydney
Mr Abbott described the referendum proposal as an ‘absolute travesty’ at the CPAC conference
Mr Abbott walked onto the stage wearing a navy suit and blue tie to a resounding cheer and standing ovation from the crowd.
More cheers were heard when he told the crowd he would be voting no come October 14, when he suspects the referendum for the Voice will be held.
‘I say a resounding YES to constitutional equality, and because I say a resounding yes to Australians moving forward together as one people,’ he said.
He described the referendum proposal as an ‘absolute travesty’.
‘It would entrench race in our Constitution. It would reinforce the separatism, that is at the heart of indigenous disadvantage,’ Mr Abbott said.
‘It would entrench race in our Constitution. It would reinforce the separatism, that is at the heart of indigenous disadvantage,’ Mr Abbott said of the Voice proposal
‘And it would make our already creaky governmental processes more gummed up.’
Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine gave the welcome address to the conservative conference, where he said the opposing campaign is full of ‘myths and lies’.
Mr Mundine introduced leaders from across the country when he gave the welcome address, shortly after showing the crowd his ‘Vote No’ sticker on his back.
He walked onto the stage alongside Shadow Minister Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
‘The myths and lies in the Yes campaign call me all the racist names,’ Mr Mundine said in his welcome address.
Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine gave the welcome address to the conservative conference, where he said the opposing campaign is full of ‘myths and lies’
‘Migrants, Australians, everyone … we’re all Australians and now they want to drag us back to the bad old days. We have to stand up and fight for liberties and freedoms.’
Mr Mundine said there is ‘dreadful statistic after dreadful statistic’ in Indigenous communities across the country, yet the government is yet to change anything.
He called for the government to stop treating ‘Indigenous and Torres Strait people as one group’.
‘I don’t need help, Noel Pearson doesn’t need help … But there are people in regional and remote Australia are struggling and guess what? They’re black white, pink green, every colour under the rainbow,’ Mr Mundine said.
Mr Mundine called for the government to stop treating ‘Indigenous and Torres Strait people as one group’
The conference continues, with Senator Price and Alan Jones among others to address the crowd.
Fresh polling has cast doubt on the success of The Voice, with Victoria and Tasmania the only states returning a Yes vote.
The Resolve Political Monitor conducted for the Nine Newspapers found support for the voice had fallen to 46 per cent, down from 63 per cent a year ago.
To succeed a referendum must have a majority of voters across Australia and four out of six states to cast a yes ballot.
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