Voice referendum: Yes supporter Jane Caro defends her claim ‘white people’ are not victims of racism after backlash over tweet

Yes vote supporter and social commentator Jane Caro has defended a controversial tweet after she was criticized for claiming that ‘white people have never been victims of racism’.

The TV personality made the comment following an op-ed criticizing Noel Pearson and a speech he gave in support of The Voice last Wednesday.

Sky News presenter Rowan Dean accused Mr Pearson of ‘racebaiting’ and suggested that ‘white northern European Anglos are different’, labeling the speech ‘offensive’.

He then called on the Racial Discrimination Commissioner to confront the Yes campaigner and share his views in a scathing post on social media platform X.

Ms Caro, winner of the Walkley Prize and member of the Order of Australia (AM), lashed out at the Sky News presenter in her own post on Monday.

“White people have never been victims of racism in Australia,” Ms Caro wrote.

‘And that will not be the case in the future: Voice or no Voice. This kind of cynical sophistry is cruel and completely dishonest.”

Ms Caro was responding to comments from Sky News presenter Rowan Dean who was critical of a speech by Yes campaigner Noel Pearson (pictured)

Despite receiving a barrage of negative comments from social media users, Ms Caro told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday that she stands by her comment.

‘The statistics are unambiguous. No group in Australia has suffered the systemic racism that Indigenous Australians have, and despite occasional exceptions, that continues to be the case,” Ms Caro said.

“Also, the group that discriminates – whether Jews (my family heritage is Jewish), Italians, Greeks or Lebanese – are always white people.”

Ms Caro added that discrimination in Australia has “always” been in the hands of “white people”, with Indigenous Australians suffering “almost exclusively”.

“Systemic discrimination in Australia has always been from white people to people of colour,” Ms Caro said.

‘There may have been cases of discrimination against newcomers when we had a White Australia Policy (remember that), when we had to find paler outsiders to serve as scapegoats.

“But since that’s gone, it’s almost exclusively POC (people of colour) and mainly Indigenous Australians.”

Social media users branded Ms Caro’s comment as ‘untrue’, with many Australians claiming they were victims of racism despite being considered ‘white’.

“Sorry Jane, but I am an Italian immigrant and I have been a victim of racism. I’m white. My grandparents arrived in the late 1960s. They have a few stories to tell about racial vilification. They are also white,” one person wrote.

“My father, a Greek immigrant, was called a wog every day when he worked on the railroad in the 60s and 70s… last time I checked, Greeks were considered white,” another noted.

“My white friend grew up in Redfern and walked to school every day and every day he was called a ‘Captain Cook c***’… he was seven,” a third added.

A fourth shouted: ‘My parents were/are called Wogs in Australia. I was born here and I too am (are) called a wog.’

‘My children born in Aus to parents born in Aus are also called wogs. Are you telling me that ‘wogs’ is a term of endearment, or that I’m not white?’

Another person added: “Hey Jane. Are Irish white? I don’t think it was all roses and moonshine when many immigrants came to live here over the years.’

In response to the backlash, Ms Caro (pictured) defended her comments to Daily Mail Australia, claiming discrimination has ‘always’ been in the hands of ‘white people’, with Indigenous Australians suffering ‘almost exclusively’.

Ms Caro has expressed her support for the referendum in the past after sharing an automated text message she received from Senator Jacinta Price in September.

The message urged recipients to vote no in the upcoming referendum before Ms Caro replied: “I’m going to vote yes and you should too.”

Mr Pearson had delivered his speech to the National Press Club last week.

A reporter asked him how the Yes campaign’s message was being delivered in multicultural communities across the country.

“I say to multicultural communities in the campaign I’m involved with all over the country, I say to them, listen, where do you fit in in Australia?” said Mr. Pearson.

‘Are you in the mafia from Great Britain? Are you some kind of honorary colonists? Because some of you have the wrong color.

‘Or you are not from Northern Europe. You’re from Africa, you’re from Asia, you’re from South America – you’re from everywhere. You are from China. I say to them: where do you fit in in Australia?’

Mr Dean branded Pearson’s speech “offensive” and “divisive” after the Yes campaigner asked Aussies “where do you fit in Australia?”

In his opinion piece, written for the Spectator Australia, Dean claimed the speech ‘bothered’ him and was deliberate ‘race-baiting’.

“There was one small piece in particular that promotes racial discrimination, deliberately divides the nation, and is extremely offensive,” Dean wrote.

“All of us in Australia are committed to making this the most successful, multi-racial nation on earth. How dare you – that was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard.’

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum will be held on October 14, with Australians voting on whether there should be constitutional recognition of First Nations people and whether an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory body should be established.

The Voice has sparked a heated debate between Yes supporters and their No counterparts, with both campaigning for votes in the run-up to the referendum.

The Yes23 campaign has been accused of running dirty tricks outside early voting centers by using almost identically colored signs to the Australian Electoral Commission.

Early voting for the Voice referendum began on Monday in the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, ahead of the October 14 election.

In a photo taken outside a voting booth at the Mildura Senior Citizens Club in Victoria, an official purple ‘Vote Centre’ sign could be seen sandwiched between two ‘Vote Yes’ signs of the same purple color and white lettering.

Pro-Voice supporters were also heard hurling vicious insults at No voters after a clash broke out at an anti-Voice rally on September 27.

Hundreds of angry Yes voters descended on Brisbane’s Royal International Convention Center for an event featuring outspoken indigenous No campaigners Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine.

The Voice has sparked a heated debate between Yes supporters and their No counterparts, with both campaigning for votes in the run-up to the referendum (Yes23 supporters campaigning in Brisbane on August 30)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured far left with Noel Pearson (centre)) urged Yes and No supporters to remain respectful during the Voice referendum debate

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged Aussies on both sides of the Voice debate to remain respectful.

When asked whether he would still make the same commitment to hold the referendum if he had the time again, knowing how “tedious and divisive” the debate would become, Mr Albanese was emphatic.

‘Yes. Because when are we going to get this done (else). It has been 122 years,” Mr Albanese told 2SM radio on September 20.

‘There are provisions in the constitution that allow New Zealand to become Australia’s seventh state, but there is no recognition of Australia’s first peoples.

“This shouldn’t be controversial.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has called on the Prime Minister to postpone the “divisive” referendum or change the question asked to voters.

Mr Dutton suggested the question should be put to Australians to vote on Indigenous recognition without a constitutionally enshrined vote.