Warren Mundine ‘confused’ over Vincent Lingiari mix up for Voice to Parliament ‘no’ campaign

Voice to Parliament ‘no’ campaigner Warren Mundine is ‘as confused as anyone’ over a situation where an Indigenous man was wrongly identified as the grandson of iconic Aboriginal activist Vincent Lingiari.

The ‘no’ campaign website featured a photograph of Stewart Lingiari and identified him as one of several prominent case studies supporting the fight against the referendum.

In the advertisements, Mr. Lingiari says, ‘I don’t want you to look at me differently. That is why I am voting against’.

He is described as Vincent Lingiari’s grandson – something later contradicted by both Vincent’s true descendants and Mr. Lingiari himself.

Mr. Lingiari – who got his surname from his adoptive parents and has no relation to Vincent – has since condemned his involvement in the project.

He said he is ‘not from that family’ and that he had little understanding of what the Voice to Parliament was when asked to work on advertisements for the ‘no’ campaign.

And on ABC Radio National, Mr Mundine said he is also confused about the miscommunication.

“All I did here was trust someone who introduced themselves as a certain person,” he said.

“I’m very confused, like everyone else.”

Mr Lingiari will be removed from all promotional material within the next two days, Mr Mundine said, as the ‘no’ campaign works to establish what went wrong.

The Ngukurr man – some 770 km (or 12 hours) from where Vincent’s family lives in the Northern Territory – also claimed to have been given a script to read for the promotional video.

Mr. Mundine denies this, saying he is concerned for Mr. Lingiari’s well-being because of the controversy.

Mundine describes their first meeting in Canberra and says he was given no reason not to trust the group.

“He was introduced to me as Vincent Lingiari’s grandson… I said ‘wow, really?'” and he said “yes,”‘ Mr Mundine claimed.

“I said ‘it’s an honor to meet you’ ‘… we had conversations over the two days we were together.”

Mr Mundine was questioned about the rigor of his vetting process in finding spokespersons for the ‘no’ campaign, but he insists his only mistake was being too confident.

He assured the public that his primary aim is to continue to be a source of truthful and accurate information about the Voice to Parliament referendum and the community’s response.

“We’re going to make sure as much as possible that we check and check and check before we release anything.

“It’s about truth and trust, I’m working on that and I want everyone to understand that things need to be checked.”

But he also noted that this was a “strange situation” he had never found himself in before.

“I’ve never been in a situation like this where someone introduces themselves to me as someone, and later says they’re not… We did the right thing at the time.”

Mr. Lingiari is adamant that he did not introduce himself as Vincent’s grandson.

Despite the back and forth, Mundine is confident he will get a ‘no’ majority when the referendum comes.

Australians will be asked if they support the creation of the Voice to Parliament to recognize Indigenous peoples in the constitution. The government has set aside $364.6 million in this budget for the referendum.

The vote will need the support of the majority of Australians in most states to be successful.

The Voice will set up a body to “submit matters to the Parliament and Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”

This body – made up of indigenous people of different ages and demographics – would provide advice to the government.

His campaign, along with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, has garnered strong support in recent days, with new polls suggesting support for The Voice is wavering.

A survey shows that just over half of Australians still support the Voice, but the percentage of people planning to vote ‘yes’ has fallen from 58 per cent to 53 per cent in the past month.

The poll, conducted by Resolve Strategic for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, shows that the ‘no’ campaign is on track to win if the trend continues.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who left the opposition front bench over his party’s negative stance on The Voice, said he would film amendments next week to change the proposed model in hopes of boosting public support.

His proposed changes include that the Voice’s role in advising the government on laws affecting Aboriginal people should be regulated, but not enshrined in constitution, as the current proposal is.

Mr Leeser said the poll showed the electoral prospects for the Voice were ‘not tracking as they should’ and some watering down of the proposal was needed to ensure it was approved.

“The best way to improve the outlook is to limit the arguments of the ‘no’ case,” he said.

“I am a supporter of The Voice, I will vote ‘yes’ in the referendum, the amendments I am proposing will improve The Voice’s electoral prospects.”