Voice referendum: Disturbing moment Albury Yes campaigner is confronted by No voter insisting she try and change his mind
The moment a Yes23 campaigner was confronted by a man who stormed into a meeting and demanded organizers change their minds about the referendum has emerged online.
Friday’s private planning meeting between members of the Yes campaign was disrupted in Albury, on the New South Wales-Victoria border, by Bradley Beaven.
The agitator filmed himself entering the meeting location before being met in a hallway by a female activist.
He then insists that she change her mind and convince him to vote Yes.
After repeatedly telling Mr Beaven that the event was not public before threatening to call the police, he threatened to call the authorities himself.
This is not the first time Mr Beaven has been caught harassing Yes23 campaigners, as he filmed himself doing the same in Melbourne last week.
Bradley Beaven (pictured) tried to disrupt a private Yes23 campaign meeting before confronting a campaigner and asking her to change her mind on the referendum
After repeatedly telling Mr Beaven that the event was not public before threatening to call the police, he threatened to call the authorities himself
In the video, Mr Beaven immediately introduces himself as a ‘vote no’, prompting the campaigner to show him the door.
“I’d like you to change your mind,” he asks.
“This isn’t actually an open meeting, it’s a planning meeting for our campaign, so you’ll see us on the streets doing things,” the Yes campaigner replies.
“I’d like you to change your mind while I’m here. Why are you voting yes,” he insists.
The campaigner quickly loses patience with his line of inquiry as he continues to try to provoke a debate.
“I’d like you to change your mind,” he insists.
“Well, you’ll see us around again,” she repeats.
“No, right now,” Mr. Beaven demands.
The two then talk over each other about who is the most disrespectful before the campaigner notices Mr Beaven recording the exchange.
“You did not ask my permission to film me,” the activist said.
“I have my own permission, thank you,” Mr. Beaven replies.
After Mr. Beaven refuses to leave and continues filming, the woman says she will get the police involved, which seems to set him on fire.
“Call the police, because you should be arrested and charged with treason against the people of this country,” Mr. Beaven snaps back as he is escorted out of the building.
As he makes his way to the exit, Mr. Beaven begins shouting “VOTE NO” while still within earshot of the meeting.
“You traitors to this damn country.”
Mr Beaven continues to shout as he walks into the dark, empty streets with two friends, one of whom is wearing a ‘f*** the system’ t-shirt.
A week before he tried to crash the Yes23 organizing meeting, Mr Beaven brutally called another campaigner a “son of a bitch” in Melbourne’s CBD.
Mr Beaven has confronted Yes23 campaigners before, most recently filming himself in Melbourne’s CBD last week doing the same
The agitator approached a male campaigner handing out flyers and called him a slew of names, including a traitor.
Sticking to his familiar script, Mr Beaven also branded the Melbourne campaigner a “treacherous bloody dog” after their altercation.
The man, who was innocently handing out flyers at the time, stood there quietly and took the abuse before walking away.
Mr Beaven said the verbal attack was justified because he had been harassed by three Yes campaigners earlier in the day.
He said he only left the area “because there were children around.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Yes23 for comment.
It will be less than a month before Australians decide whether to support enshrining an Indigenous voice in parliament in the constitution.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned of the consequences of a no vote in a speech he gave in Adelaide announcing the date of the vote.
‘On October 14 you will not be asked to vote for a political party or person. You are being asked to say yes to an idea whose time has come,” Albanese told the audience.
‘Let’s be very clear about the alternative. Voting no means going nowhere. It closes the door on this opportunity to move forward. Don’t close the door on constitutional recognition… don’t close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote yes.’
The question put to Australians will be: ‘A Bill: To amend the Constitution to recognize Australia’s First Peoples by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve of this proposed change?’