Ray Martin launches extraordinary three-word attack on Voice to Parliament No voters – and Anthony Albanese praised his ‘powerful’ speech: Watch video
TV icon Ray Martin launched an extraordinary attack on No voters, branding them “dinosaurs and d***heads” in a scathing speech to a cheering “Yes” crowd in front of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
In a rare intervention in the political world, Martin faced the No voters at a promotional event at Marrickville’s Factory Theater in Sydney’s west on September 28.
Video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows Martin taking aim at the No side’s ‘If you don’t know, vote’ slogan, saying: ‘If you don’t know, find out what you don’t know.
“What that slogan means is that if you’re a dinosaur or an asshole who can’t be bothered to read, then you should vote no.”
TV icon Ray Martin launches an extraordinary attack on No voters, labeling them ‘dinosaurs and d***heads’ in a scathing speech to a cheering Yes crowd in front of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Martin attacked the No voters at a promotional event at Marrickville’s Factory Theater in Sydney’s west on September 28.
Martin then went on to dismiss the No campaign’s main argument that there aren’t enough details about the proposal, arguing that they “simply don’t matter.”
“They never mattered. Frankly, they are not relevant,” he said.
“Over the next ten, twenty or thirty years, no matter who is in government, the details will change, as will the members of the Voice delegation, depending on the needs, priorities and policies intended to close that bloody gap .
“You can’t write all that into the constitution.”
One of the two bodies that make up the official No campaign, Fair Australia, took umbrage with Martin’s comments.
A spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that Martin’s comments were another attack on decent Australians who chose to vote against the Voice.
Video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows Martin taking aim at the No side’s ‘If you don’t know, vote’ slogan, saying: ‘If you don’t know, find out what you don’t know
Mr Albanese described Martin’s speech as “very powerful” the day after the event, which took place on September 28
‘Having been told we’re ‘racist’ and ‘stupid’, Australians who vote ‘no’ can now add ‘d**khead’ and ‘dinosaur’ to the list of insults the ‘Yes’ campaign has spat at us .
“The sneering elites of the Yes campaign are determined to divide Australians. These elitists are addicted to insulting us, and can’t stop mocking ordinary Australians.’
The organization called on Martin to apologize and Mr Albanese to condemn the comments.
Mr Albanese described Martin’s speech as “very powerful” the day after the event, which took place on September 28.
Daily Mail Australia has asked the Prime Minister’s office for comment on its views on Martin’s comments.
Martin discovered in the 1990s that his great-great-grandmother was an Indigenous woman from Kamilaroi and that he himself was a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation for ten years in his role as chair of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.
The Prime Minister also addressed the crowd at the event, describing the Voice proposal as ‘a handshake, an award of friendship’.
“Politics unfortunately drove this campaign,” he said.
“No MP really thinks the vote would advise the Reserve Banks on interest rates, but we have been asked these questions in Parliament as if they are legitimate: Australia deserves better.
“This is a huge opportunity for Australia. No is what we have now, there is so much to gain and nothing to lose by voting ‘Yes’.”
Martin’s comments divided Australians when video of the speech emerged. Some were inspired and pledged to support him and vote yes on October 14, but many others were offended.
“The details matter, and that’s why everyone is voting no,” one person said.
“This video made me vote No,” another added.
Australians will go to the polls on October 14 for the first referendum in 24 years
The Prime Minister also addressed the crowd at the event, describing the Voice proposal as ‘a handshake, an award of friendship’
Others said they had educated themselves, as Martin suggested, and decided to vote no.
The latest criticism of the No campaign comes after prominent indigenous campaigner and proponent of the Yes vote, Professor Marcia Langton, faced backlash for accusing the No campaign of being based on “grassroots racism” or “sheer stupidity ‘.
Professor Langton made the comments at a forum in Bunbury, Western Australia, and said Australians need to do more research into claims made by the No campaign.
“Every time the No cases make their arguments, when you start to pick it apart you end up with either fundamental racism – I’m sorry to say that’s where it ends up – or sheer stupidity,” said Prof. Langton.
Prof. Langton later insisted that she was not calling the No voters racist or stupid, just that the arguments used in the No campaign were.
And no single event has become a lightning rod for attacks across the country. In South Australia, protesters branded attendees “racist dogs”, while others were branded “scum” at a similar event in Queensland.
Martin discovered in the 1990s that his great-great-grandmother was an Indigenous woman from Kamilaroi and that he himself was a member of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation for ten years in his role as chair of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.