Sydney City Council is under fire over plans to give the team behind the Yes campaign $25,000 worth of free accommodation in the city’s CBD.
The Yes23 team will be allocated prime CBD office space in the form of Town Hall House on Kent Street for three months under the agreement with the council.
Staff members will be able to work from August 8 to November 7 from a 137.5-meter office in the building in the run-up to the referendum.
The bill for housing the Yes23 team is expected to cost $25,781 before GST, which will be paid by Sydney’s taxpayers.
The free hire comes after Qantas announced it would be displaying support for the campaign on the side of its aircraft and offering free rides to supporters.
A City of Sydney Council committee meeting headed by Mayor Clover Moore on Monday passed an agreement to give free accommodation to the Yes team.
The City of Sydney City Council led by Mayor Clover Moore (pictured) has come under fire over plans to give the Yes campaign for the Voice free office space for three months
The council will meet again next week to formally approve the agreement.
However, the plans are expected to go ahead as the municipality has already signed a ‘three month license agreement’ with the Yes23 campaign. The Daily Telegraph reported.
The council added that it had already pledged money to support the yes vote for the Voice to Parliament.
The decision has sparked outrage among the No campaign, with Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price describing it as an “insult” to taxpayers and a “divisive” move.
“Clover Moore should be doing something less divisive, like helping those Aussies who are struggling to pay their rates,” she said.
“This insult to any Australian struggling to pay their bills will only add to the divisiveness of an already divisive referendum.”
She said it was a “slap in the face” from Aussies desperately trying to pay off their mortgages while earning money for groceries and other necessities amid the cost of living crisis.
“I am proud to say that the no campaign is being waged from the lounges and sheds of ordinary Aussies across the country,” added Senator Price.
Opposition to the plans was also supported by alderman and former Cumberland City Council mayor Steve Christou.
Mr Christou wrote to the local government minister and member for Heffron, Ron Hoenig, asking the NSW government to stop “awakened councils wasting taxpayers’ money” to the Voice.
Key members of the Yes team have also been given free flights by Qantas to travel to regional and remote Australia to campaign.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price described the council’s move as “divisive” and an “insult” to taxpayers
Sydney City Council stated it had already pledged money in support of the Voice to Parliament yes vote (pictured, yes supporters holding signs)
Qantas boss Alan Joyce has confirmed the airline’s support for The Voice to Parliament by splashing the Yes campaign logo on three planes and providing the free flights for the Yes team.
Mr Joyce said the flag carrier was ‘literally flying the flag’ in support of the Voice.
“These planes will cover a large part of the country. Every major city, every major city will see this message, which is fantastic,” he said.
Mr Joyce said the airlines’ support for The Voice was part of the Qantas’ commitment to reconciliation.
It comes after Senator Price took aim at Anthony Albanese for not reading the expanded version of the Uluru Statement of the Heart – the key document on which the Australia’s Voice referendum is based.
Speaking from Alice Springs on Wednesday, the native senator accused the prime minister of forcing a vote “on something he doesn’t understand.”
Qantas boss Alan Joyce (pictured left with Anthony Albanese) has confirmed the airline’s support for the Voice to Parliament by splashing the Yes campaign logo on three planes and providing the free flights for the Yes team
Mr Albanese had admitted earlier that day that he had not read the full document during an interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, saying: ‘There are 120 pages, why should I (read)?’
“The Prime Minister has been claiming for months that there is enough detail about the divisive Voice and has told Australians to read it,” Senator Price told the Daily Telegraph.
“But now we learn that he doesn’t care and has called a referendum on something he doesn’t understand.
“Instead of flirting with the Yes23 elites at the unveiling of their Qantas corporate jet, he should do his job and read the details of the divisive referendum he is foisting on us.
Sky News commentator Peta Credlin also criticized Albanese after the radio interview, saying it was ‘madness’ that he had not read the documents.
The referendum for the Voice to Parliament will be held sometime between October and December this year.