EXCLUSIVE
Singer Kamahl has revealed how he was lured back to the ‘No’ vote by a series of text messages from an anti-Voice campaigner.
The 88-year-old originally planned to vote no, but made national headlines when he announced he was switching to a yes vote after a filmed discussion with native comedian Dane Simpson and constitutional lawyer Eddie Synot.
The film session in “a very nice house” in Sydney – as Kamahl tells it – convinced him to vote ‘yes’, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to announce that there was ‘Kamahl-mentum’ for the vote and his support to be greeted as a ‘very big agreement’.
But at his home on Sydney’s northern beaches on Monday, Kamahl candidly said he had not been properly briefed on all issues – confirming he would now vote ‘no’.
A series of text messages obtained by Daily Mail Australia, sent by a ‘No’ lawyer, appear to be the driving force behind his return to ‘No’ and announcing his backflip on air on on Channel Ten‘s The Project on Sunday evening.
Singer Kamahl (above, on Monday), with a Yes campaign button jokingly thrown to the ground, explained that a series of texts and phone calls on Saturday and Sunday had convinced him to return to the No vote.
A flurry of texts and verbal exchanges led Kamahl to withdraw from the yes vote, ultimately convincing him to return to the no vote.
Kamahl shared lyrics that showed the rollercoaster ride he took between turning to “Yes” and then back to “No.”
Last Friday at 9:38 am he texted: “I’m voting yes, PERIOD!!”
He then received a flood of texts and tweets trying to convince him otherwise.
Among the things he read and had conversations over the weekend that brought him back to the No vote included exchanges with former Willoughby Shire councilor, John Hooper, and prominent No campaigner, Warren Mundine.
Kamahl, at home next to the presentation of awards from his singing and performing careers, says he will not return to the “Yes” vote, although the campaign plans to contact him for “a chat.”
Kamahl supported the Yes vote (left), but then received text messages (right) and phone calls that convinced him to switch back to the No vote, which he did in a surprise backflip on TV
“I’ve spent a lot of time in remote regional areas and I know the Voice won’t work, it will be a disaster…,” Mr. Hooper began in a stream of text messages after Kamahl called him last Saturday.
In texts and conversations, Mr. Hooper Kamahl provided a long history of Aboriginal affairs, dating back to the First Fleet, and information on hardship and health care.
In one conversation, Mr Hooper made extraordinary and unverifiable claims to Kamahl about cases of cannibalism in Aboriginal communities in the 1920s.
Mr Hooper agreed with Daily Mail Australia that he and Kamahl had discussed the cannibalism claims among many other topics.
The two had met last year at a drinks party hosted by Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane and Mr Hooper referred Kamahl to Mr Mundine, a leading No campaigner.
The singer told Daily Mail Australia he had an extensive history lesson on Monday evening.
He said he now believed that “the yes vote means dividing the nation by making Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a special race.”
Kamahl reverses the yes vote on Sunday evening, just a day after the Prime Minister predicted ‘Kamahl-mentum’ in the campaign, but also after the singer received a flood of text messages encouraging him to vote no
Kamahl spoke with several people, including former Willoughby councilor John Hooper (left), exchanging texts and conversations before returning to the no vote, which he says he is now sticking to.
“I know what it’s like to feel inferior because I’m black. “I hate to say that to this day I feel inferior because I am black,” he said.
‘I’ve played an Aboriginal person on a film set and know what it’s like when the white people went back into the air conditioning between takes, and the girl and I were given a sandwich and told to stay outside.
“I had never heard anything about the Voice until ten days ago and I didn’t realize the seriousness of the campaign when (the Yes camp) took me to that very beautiful house.
“When I was with Eddy and (comedian) Dan (Ilic), I was happy to change my vote to Yes.
“They wanted to inform me and make me more understanding and I believed what they said, but I now think that the yes vote is sowing division.”
Kamahl, an avid user of had and the facts.’
Kamahl now admits the atmosphere turned frosty when he announced he would be changing his voice during the pre-recorded interview with Ten, prompting a verbal confrontation with presenter Hamish McDonald.
Kamahl said of his backlash at voting on Channel Ten’s The Project, he knows the temperature dropped in the studio with Hamish McDonald (above) and ‘I was now an enemy in enemy territory’
‘The atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped. “I know I was swinging against the current,” he said.
“I was now an enemy in enemy territory and (Hamish McDonald) didn’t agree with the figure,” Kamahl said, referring to an amount he quoted and claimed on the show $40 billion was spent annually on indigenous programs.
The figure is unsubstantiated and was immediately questioned by McDonald, who said it was $4 billion.
Kamahl said he also exchanged text messages with entertainment reporter Peter Ford after reversing his “Yes” vote.
However, the Yes campaign has not given up.
He was told that lawyer Eddie Synot would contact him again to discuss the Yes campaign.
However, he says he does not want to say much more about the Yes campaign, because ‘you don’t want to kick a dog when it’s down’.
He said he is voting ‘no’ ‘because I love Australia’.