Radio host’s blistering attack on Linda Burney’s Voice claim: ‘disgraceful, an outright lie’

Australian indigenous minister Linda Burney has been criticized for her “absolute lie” after making the extraordinary claim on ABC that the Voice of Parliament would have prevented the Alice Springs crime wave.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to fly to the troubled inner city and introduce a ban on alcohol sales after strong criticism from the opposition and locals over a 300 percent rise in crime since Labor removed the alcohol sales bans in remote communities.

Ms Burney told ABC Radio National’s Patricia Karvelas that if a Voice in Parliament had been established sooner, ‘the situation in Alice Springs would not be what it is’.

When Karvelas later pressed Ms Burney on whether she or the PM had been tough enough on Northern Territory alcohol bans, the minister said of his whirlwind visit: ‘The most important thing is that we made huge strides yesterday .

“I’ve been thinking about this very deeply and it was expressed yesterday that if Voice of Parliament had been established earlier, I don’t think we would be where we are in terms of where Alice Springs is right now.” she said.

However, 2GB presenter Ben Fordham criticized Ms Burney’s comments as not just “embarrassing” but an “absolute lie”.

‘Linda Burney has had a surprise. She lives in a fantasy land,’ Fordham said, ‘I hope you’re not using what’s happening in Alice Springs to build a case for The Voice, because it sure sounds like that.

‘I really mean Linda, you don’t think so. Either you are lying or you live in the country of madmen.

He also gave Ms Burney a massive spray for her reasoning for why this would be the case when she said: “because we would have been getting practical advice from people who represent the community in relation to these social issues.”

Fordham: ‘Minister, you’ve had that before. The people of Alice Springs have been pounding on the door begging for your help.’

National Party Senator Matt Canavan also weighed in on Ms Burney’s comments, saying she should resign from her job.

‘It shows how out of touch these people are. We have a whole department here in Canberra focused on indigenous affairs issues.

‘If they couldn’t see what was happening in Alice Springs and report it to their own minister, what hope do 25 strange people in Indigenous Voice have of doing the same?

‘This is a minister clearly out of his league. she should go. How could she not know what was going on in Alice Springs? It is not another planet.

He also said the Australia Day date issue could be added to The Voice’s referendum and would “cost nothing”.

Fordham cited a parliamentary inquiry last month into the July 2022 expiration of the Stronger Futures legislation, which lifted decade-old alcohol bans at the Northern Territory’s more than 40 indigenous peoples’ camps.

Stephen Gourley, Director of Emergency Medicine at Alice Springs Hospital, told the hearing that since the bans were lifted “the level of injuries we’ve seen is horrific, mostly women being beaten up.”

At the same consultation, Alice Springs GP Dr John Boffa urged a return to the grog bans, because “we need to maintain additional protections and additional measures until we can see evidence that trauma in children is is reducing.”

Last October, the Central Desert Regional Council reported the immediate impact of lifting the grog ban as “an increase in alcohol-fuelled violence.”

And in June 2022, on the eve of the ban being lifted, eight local indigenous groups and the head of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Donna Ah Chee, warned Ms Burney in a letter that “allowing greater access to alcohol without It will certainly add fuel to this fire.”

Alice Springs federal MP Marion Scrymgour had also warned: “You can’t suddenly pull the pin out without any protection or plan for vulnerable women and children.”

Fordham said that “everyone… knows it was pressure from this radio station that forced her and the prime minister to act and even then (they) didn’t listen, because all they’ve done is support bans on grog on Mondays and Tuesdays”.

And they have done nothing with the children as young as five who roam the streets at night. There is no point in giving people a Voice if your ears are covered.

“To suggest that a voice in the constitution would have made a difference is shameful and ridiculous. It’s a blatant lie’

Listeners called Fordham and asked what Mrs. Burney had been up to for the last ten months.

In her interview with Radio National, Ms Burney admitted that Alice Springs was “a huge hotspot” but denied that alcohol was the only problem.

She said the city had “a complex set of problems” and the prime minister’s six-hour visit was “very good.”

When pressed again by Karvelas about whether she had not pressured the NT government to take action on alcohol controls sooner, she replied: “The most important thing is that we made tremendous progress yesterday.”

Linda Burney was previously criticized for the Indigenous Voice referendum on government Parliament three months ago, when Senator Jacinta Price made a mockery of her private jet tour of inland communities while ‘dripping with Gucci’.