Peta Credlin says Voice to parliament campaign brands no voters as ‘all but racist’

Australians are ‘morally shamed’ to vote for an Indigenous vote in parliament, a conservative columnist argues.

Peta Credlin, former chief of staff to Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott, said the proposed Voice will be a race-based agency more about “power than recognition,” but this is not how it’s being sold.

“It will be put to voters in too simple terms: for or against Aborigines,” Ms Credlin wrote in the Australian.

The Voice is a proposed body of representatives from First Nations peoples across Australia who will advise the Federal Parliament on matters affecting Indigenous peoples.

Its creation requires an amendment to the Australian Constitution to be implemented by a successful referendum vote.

As an example of ‘oversimplification’, Ms Credlin pointed to the launch this week of what she called the ‘big business’ campaign for a ‘yes’ vote, which is backed by the Uluru Statement Group.

The ad features Indigenous playwright and actor Trevor Jamieson telling delighted children the hopeful story of how First People are allowed to “have a say” in matters that concern them, which they have not had.

“The ‘feel-good’ yarn for children around a campfire is a sign of things to come,” wrote Ms Credlin of the minute-long commercial, which will mainly be aimed at online audiences.

She noted that for previous referendums, the federal government had funded campaigns for both yes and no, but Ms Credlin doubted that the Albanian government would do that this time.

“Labor will rely on big business to flood us with the yes message and hope, without the millions who can match it, that no one picks up on the no arguments,” she said.

Ms. Credlin accused those who insist on a Voice of being deliberately vague about what the body will do.

Ms Credlin argues that the Albanian government relies on major business to fund the yes campaign, as in this image from the online ad launched last week, while hoping the no arguments will be drowned out

“The voice has to make the difference or what’s the point of having it?” she wrote.

“Yet that difference cannot be described without almost certainly condemning it to defeat, hence the lack of detail.”

Ms Credlin believed that Indigenous people already have a substantial say in the affairs of the nation, pointing to the number of MPs who identify as Indigenous.

“Why establish a separate Indigenous vote in Parliament when there are already 11 individual Indigenous votes elected in the usual way, without any affirmative action or race-based selection criteria?” she wrote.

“Why give a group of people, based on race, a special voice over the actions of our parliament and government that is denied to everyone else?”

She claimed that the Voice was really a power grab.

“There is ample reason to be cautious about enshrining in our constitution a race-based body that even Malcolm Turnbull once described as a third chamber of parliament,” she wrote.

“It’s easy to see where this could end up — on the path of co-governance.”

Mr. Albanese has indicated that the model depicted would form the basis of the Voice’s design and would be refined as the debate evolved.

Ms Credlin said there was not much ‘thought through’ about the Vote and there is a danger that Australians would be morally ashamed by voting on a ‘race-based’ Vote ‘sphere-based’.

“A few decades ago, we would have been marching in the streets over a race-based body in our constitution,” she wrote.

“Now we’re being told we’re anything but racist if we don’t support it.”

Will Australians vote for an Indigenous vote in parliament?

A poll by the Australia Institute in July showed strong support for adding The Voice to the constitution.

The poll showed that 65 percent would vote yes, up from 58 percent when the same poll was held in June.

About 14 percent said they would vote no, while the other 21 percent would be undecided.

Support was strongest among Greens voters, but even 58 percent of coalition parties would vote yes.

About 59 percent of One Nation voters would vote yes, despite its leader Pauline Hanson leading the charge against the country. In June it was still 35 percent.

For a referendum to pass, a majority of states must also vote yes, but the poll showed that too was easily covered.

All four largest states had a comfortable majority with Victoria at 71 percent, Queensland 66 percent, WA 63 percent and NSW 62 percent.

Support was highest at 85 percent for Australians aged 18-29, but for those over 50 it was still over 50 percent.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated that the vote of the vote referendum is likely to be: ‘Do you support a constitutional amendment that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’

Three lines would be added to the Constitution to create the advisory body; one that says it can be ‘representatives to parliament’ on issues relating to Indigenous Australians; and that Parliament may legislate on how it works.

For a referendum to pass, both an overall majority of votes and a majority of voters in the majority of states must be obtained.

Opinion polls conducted in July showed Australians strongly support the Voice to Parliament, with 65 percent of respondents saying they would vote yes.