Waleed Aly and Steve Price clash over letter slamming the 8.6million Australians who voted No to the Voice

Waleed Aly and Steve Price have clashed over an open letter from Indigenous Voice to Parliament Yes campaigners, accusing those who voted No of committing ‘a shameful act’.

The long but unsigned letter, released on Sunday evening, was circulated by activists linked to the Uluru Dialogue group that led the Voice proposal to its crushing referendum defeat on October 14.

Speaking on Monday night’s The Project, Price accused those who wrote the letter to the Prime Minister and all federal MPs of not having “the guts” to sign it.

“It appears that the Yes campaign has learned nothing from the outcome of Saturday two weeks ago,” he said.

‘The public voted 60 (percent) No, 40 (percent) Yes, and yet they write a letter which they then send to the Cabinet and the Prime Minister, committing a disgraceful act on people who voted No, and implying that No voters are racist.

“If you’re going to do that, at least have the courage to put your name on it.”

But Aly jumped to the defense of those who wrote the anonymous letter.

“I don’t think they said all the no voters were racist,” he said.

“They said racism was a big part of the campaign and the mood, they are inextricably linked.”

Aly added that while he didn’t agree with everything in the letter, it was “difficult to give a simple answer.”

‘They must hurt so much. I can’t deny them that. Whether we agree with it or not,” he said.

Waleed Aly (pictured left with fellow The Project presenter Sarah Harris) said he understood why the Yes campaigners had to be ‘so hurtful’

Steve Price accused the anonymous writers of an open letter from Yes campaigners of lacking the ‘guts’ to sign it

The open letter claims to be ‘the collective insights and views of a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, community members and organizations who supported Yes’.

While the statement had some obvious differences from a leaked version revealed hours earlier, it still blamed the Coalition – which includes prominent No campaigners Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Nyunggai Mundine – for the loss.

The published letter said: ‘The truth is that the majority of Australians, knowingly or not, have committed a shameful act, and nothing positive can be interpreted from it. We needed the truth to be told to the Australian people.”

The final version of the letter did not include a line from the leaked draft that read: “Only the shameless can say there is no shame in this outcome.”

This ‘truth’ phrase is a clear indication that the indigenous leaders of the Yes campaign will now turn their attention to another part of the Uluru Statement from the heart – that of ‘telling the truth’ about the leaders of the country.

Despite the enormous loss, Indigenous leaders also said they “want to talk to our people and our supporters about establishing – independently of the constitution or legislation – an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to advance the cause of justice for our people to take.

The statement (pictured) said indigenous leaders will continue to lobby for a vote despite the comprehensive defeat in the referendum

The letter blamed the Coalition, including prominent Aboriginal senators Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (left in photo) and Warren Nyunggai Mundine (right), for the loss.

“Rejecting constitutional recognition will not stop us from speaking out against governments, parliaments and the Australian people.”

The anonymous letter writers also claim they have “an agenda for justice in pursuing our First Nations rights, who desperately need a voice – we will continue to follow our law and our ways, as our elders and ancestors have done.”

The letter also called for schoolchildren to learn more about the struggles of Indigenous Australians, saying a lack of knowledge and racism contributed to the referendum’s defeat.

“That so many Australian people believe there is no race or division over race in the current Australian Constitution speaks to the need for better education about Australian history and better citizenship education,” the report said.

In a direct challenge to non-Indigenous Australians, the letter read: “Australia is our country. We accept that the majority of Australians have rejected recognition in the Australian Constitution.

‘We will not accept for a moment that this country is not ours. Always been. Always will be.

“It is the legitimacy of the non-indigenous occupation in this country that requires recognition, not the other way around. Our sovereignty has never been ceded.”

The current referendum count shows that 5.6 million Australians voted yes, 8.65 million voted no and 143,910 were informal votes. The counting continues.