Fresh from leading the No campaign to a landslide victory in Saturday’s vote on an indigenous vote in parliament, Nyunggai Warren Mundine has called for a new referendum.
Mr Mundine said he still wanted Indigenous people to be recognized in the constitution, which would require a referendum, despite opposing the Voice mechanism as a means to do so.
“I thought it was important that he made it clear before the referendum that the vast majority of Australians, about 90 percent, want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be recognized in the constitution,” Mundine told the newspaper. Australian Financial Statement.
However, Mr Mundine backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s decision to rule one out for the foreseeable future, saying the issue should be reviewed.
Warren Mundine said he still believes the “vast majority” of Australians want Indigenous people to be recognized in the Constitution, despite leading the successful campaign against the Voice as a means to do so.
Mr Dutton said this week that “the public has probably been talking about the referendum process for some time.”
Mr Mundine agreed.
“Look, I don’t have a timetable (for a second referendum), but I hope it’s sooner rather than later. “I think the Leader of the Opposition has made the right decision because people in Australia are now burned out,” he said.
“But this has been such a painful campaign for all Australians. We need rest, to rejuvenate and come together. This is so important to the Prime Minister, he needs to bring us all together now.”
In the aftermath of the referendum, Mr Mundine also rejected independent Senator Lidia Thorpe’s calls for a treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
“I would not support a treaty,” he said. ‘And I did not follow the line of a treaty in the Makarrata Commission in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
“We have always said that that country because of our culture and religions and spirituality is very important to us, that it is an essential part of our lives, so to be compatible with a modern nation you cannot have two laws, two laws. sets of sovereignty.
“Honestly, I don’t know how that could work.”
On Wednesday, Mr Mundine revealed to Daily Mail Australia the personal toll the brutal personal abuse had taken on him during the Voice referendum campaign.
Saturday’s referendum delivered a crushing verdict against the Indigenous Voice in parliament
“The biggest downer I had during the campaign was the vicious attacks,” he said.
“They went after me, they went after my companies, they went after everything.”
‘During the campaign I considered suicide.
‘The team came to me and said, “Come on mate, we all love you, we have to keep moving”.
“We did that, we continued to focus on the people out there.”
He said allegations that he did not care about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were particularly hurtful.
“There were attacks saying I couldn’t give anything, people refusing to shake my hand when I was in one of the voting booths,” he said.
Mr Mundine (pictured right with LNP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price) said he had been subjected to brutal personal attacks during the referendum
“My passion is improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and I have been doing that for about thirty years.”
Australians voted a landslide no to the proposed Voice in last weekend’s referendum, despite the measure being backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, blue chip companies, unions and several other groups.
Nationally, 61 percent of voters rejected the proposal, and the Voice failed to win majority approval in one state.