Stan Yarramunua Dryden: Indigenous man explains to Sam Newman why he wishes the Voice referendum wasn’t taking place
Stan Yarramunua Dryden: Indigenous man explains to Sam Newman why he wishes the Voice referendum didn’t happen
An Indigenous artist has argued that the Voice referendum is divisive in Australia.
Stan Yarramunua Dryden, a world-renowned Aboriginal artist and businessman, said he felt the Voice was being pushed by “social elites” who were no longer in the area.
“All these people who are probably pushing the Voice and the rest of it to keep themselves in business and keep their own immediate families,” he told Sam Newman and Don Scott’s You Cannot Be Serious podcast.
“They don’t think about the people who live in tin shacks in Alice Springs and Darwin and Broome.”
He added: “People have jumped on it, the people with agendas. It is a divisive cottage industry and people are happy when they can create division because it gives them a sense of power and a source of income.”
Stan Yarramunua Dryden (pictured, left), a world-renowned Indigenous artist and businessman, told Sam Newman (pictured, right) and Don Scott’s podcast You Cannot Be Serious that he felt the Voice was being pushed by excessive “social elites.” ‘
Mr Dryden shared a racist encounter he recently experienced at his Burleigh Heads gallery in Queensland, to illustrate his point that The Voice was dredging up old divisions.
“It brings up a lot of things about this Voice, it brings up a lot of issues,” Mr. Dryden said.
‘I had a man of 45 years old and he stood in front of my door with his dog, stuck his head in the door and said: ‘Are you an Abo?’ … and I say, ‘Oh mate, I don’t think you should say that’ and he says, ‘Oh, you know what I mean, they’re all a bunch of losers and bums,'” Mr Dryden said.
“And this is what’s emerging now: it’s causing racism.”
Mr Dryden urged all Australians to come together and ‘get over it’
Mr Dryden, who came from a deeply impoverished background with an alcoholic father before making millions as an artist, said people need to “get over it”.
‘I’m Australian. All those things that we all talk about as Australians, there’s something bigger than all of us anyway,” he told the podcast.
“We all have to get over it because I think everyone is equal.”
Last week, 77-year-old Newman explosively rallied football fans to cheer on the Welcome to Country ceremony at this weekend’s grand final.
There have since been calls for the broadcaster and former player to be removed from the AFL Hall of Fame.