Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has slammed the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum as being driven by bureaucratic ‘elites’, claiming it will lead to further division among all Australians.
During a Sky News Australia debate on Sunday, the Country Liberals Senator criticised the referendum, saying it did not prioritise Indigenous communities.
Senator Price fiercely opposes the referendum, which she claimed started from the ‘wrong place’ by labelling all First Nation’s people as disadvantaged.
‘They’re assuming that just because one is Indigenous they are automatically disadvantaged,’ Senator Price told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
‘It’s my firm belief that you don’t lift a group of people by treating them differently to the rest of those, you certainly don’t favour them, over the rest of those.
‘As far as I’m concerned we’re all Australian people and we shouldn’t be divided along the lines of race.’
‘My argument has always been about serving the Australian people on the basis on need.’
Senator Price argued the referendum did not offer a guarantee in solving Indigenous problems because it followed bureaucratic models that ‘lived off the back of their [Aboriginal community] misery’.
‘And it is again … the most marginalised, uneducated who don’t have a clue what’s going on, so it is the elites who is driving this particular agenda,’ Senator Price said.
‘It’s argued that this voice model is supposed to give them a voice.
‘The bureaucracies have existed to serve them, but the bureaucracies have largely lived off the back of their misery.
‘So, I don’t trust that this mechanism is about serving them and again it suggests that all Indigenous people are somehow marginalised and that doesn’t actually solve our problems for us.’
Senator Country Liberals Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (pictured) criticised the Voice referendum claiming it did not prioritise indigenous communities as it automatically assumed all First Nation’s people are disadvantaged
A landmark document in 2017 saw Indigenous leaders from across the country lobby for constitutional recognition and urged the government to hold a referendum.
The Voice to Parliament would establish a permanent constitutional body, which represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and would advise the government on policies relating to Indigenous issues.
‘From the Heart’ Director Dean Parkin and constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris, who were also on the panel, supported the Voice and argued the body would significantly improve life in First Nation communities.
Mr Parkin argued ‘better outcomes’ would be achieved if Indigenous Australians had a ‘direct say’ on issues relevant to their community.
‘If we do want to see those real changes in the communities at the grassroots, we can’t just keep on doing the same thing that we’ve been doing year after year,’ Mr Parkin said during the debate.
‘It’s about giving a voice to the grassroots so that we get better outcomes on the ground, we get better results and we get better taxpayer value for a lot of good will that’s going into Indigenous affairs.’
Senator Price (pictured) argued the referendum did not offer any guarantee in solving issues faced by Indigenous communities and was inherently problematic as it followed bureaucratic models that ‘lived off the back of their [Aboriginal communities’] misery’
Panelists ‘From the Heart’ Director Dean Parkin (left) and constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris (right) argued the the Voice referendum would significantly improve life in First Nation communities
Dr Morris, who authored a book on Indigenous constitutional recognition titled Radical Heart, argued a guaranteed advisory committee would provide ‘practical results and better outcomes’ for First Nation’s people.
‘I believe if Indigenous people have a constitutionally guaranteed advisory voice so the communities can co-design solutions in partnership with government, we’ll be better placed to get practical results and better outcomes,’ Dr Morris said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal after the NBA star requested a meeting in Sydney to learn more about the referendum on the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament (pictured)
On election night, the Labor Government declared there would be a referendum in Anthony Albanese’s first term as prime minister.
Senator Price criticised Mr Albanese’s ‘petty political stunt’ which saw him met with basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal to discuss the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The former NBA star was supposed to pledge his support for the referendum but instead delivered a couple of vague platitudes and quickly left.
He turned and left the room within 10 seconds of arriving, pausing only to remind the PM he would need him to ‘give him that clearance too’ to take home the boomerangs he had earlier been presented with.
The PM insisted the meeting with the basketball star had been a huge success, telling media later: ‘It was a very positive conversation. He is interested in this country, his second visit to Australia.
In a scathing newsletter Ms Price said Albanese couldn’t tell the difference between a multi-millionaire African American basketballer and Aboriginal Australians. She ended the newsletter with a postscript followed by the famous ‘surprised Shaq’ meme (pictured)
In a newsletter on September 2, Senator Price slammed Mr Albanese for ‘trotting out an African American multi-millionaire’ instead of listening to the Indigenous voices already in Parliament.
‘Albo couldn’t resist the opportunity to do a presser with a celebrity like O’Neal,’ Senator Price wrote.
‘In his tiny little mind he probably couldn’t see the difference between a multi-millionaire African American basketballer and Aboriginal Australians living in remote and rural Australia.
‘They don’t need an Indigenous Voice handpicked by the government, and they don’t need an American celebrity’s voice.
‘Indigenous Australians have their own voices, they are many and varied and you should start listening to them.’
Ms Price has openly criticised the government’s Indigenous policies. In in her first speech to Parliament donned a traditional headdress (pictured) and rallied against what she called ‘handouts’ and ‘symbolic recognition’ for Indigenous Australians
The newsletter ended with a postscript followed by the famous ‘surprised Shaq’ meme.
‘P.S. When you realise you were just used to implement racial division in another country’s constitution,’ Senator Price wrote.
Senator Price, who was the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, has openly criticised the government and rallied against what she called ‘handouts’ and ‘symbolic recognition’ for Indigenous Australians in her first speech to Parliament on July 27.
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