Warren Mundine’s breaks ranks with No campaigners of Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Warren Mundine has broken ranks with several No campaigners by calling for Australia Day to be moved to January 26 and treaties made.

The former Labor political activist also called for recognition of Aboriginal land rights in an emotional interview on ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.

Mr Mundine’s call to change Australia Day comes despite Voice opponents arguing against the referendum partly for that reason.

An official No-case essay was recently sent to voters in which Coalition MPs warned that Yes campaigners wanted to ‘abolish Australia Day, change our flag and other institutions and symbols important to Australians’.

Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has also argued that Australians should vote no because a vote would open the doors to a treaty.

Mr Mundine, on the other hand, said he supported treaty negotiations between the government and indigenous people.

Mr Mundine called out the racism he saw during the debate over whether Australia should enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in its constitution.

“In the last 12 months I have never seen so much racism, comments and attacks as I have since I was a child,” he said, before slamming Anthony Albanese.

“It’s terrible… if the Prime Minister were to bring forward this referendum and he’s talking about uniting the people, he shouldn’t have used derogatory terms against people who disagreed.”

Mr Mundine disagreed with host David Speers, who said Mr Albanese’s use of the term ‘Chicken Little’ was not as bad as the No campaign’s Gary Johns, who suggested indigenous peoples should undergo blood tests before they receive benefits.

“If we want to eliminate racism or try to eliminate racism, we have to talk to racists,” Mundine said.

“I think he had an opinion, and I don’t agree with his (Gary Johns’) opinion. Once you start talking about race, it never ends well, so we need to stop talking about race.”

Mr Mundine’s interview came after fellow No campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told reporters she did not believe the lingering effects of colonization have negatively affected the lives of Indigenous Australians.

Speaking on Thursday, Ms Price said the conversation around colonization and its consequences had “victimized” Aboriginal people and taken away their ability to help themselves.

Mr Mundine agreed that many Indigenous people still suffer the consequences of past abuse and discrimination, but said Australia must learn to “move on” from discussing its history of trauma and neglect.

“It’s just a fact, it happened, it’s going to keep us from doing things, it’s going to keep us from improving our lives and keeping us out of poverty.

“If that’s the position, I think we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said.

Mr Mundine said he supported treaty negotiations between the government and indigenous people, despite No advocates such as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Ms Price opposing it.

He said treaties would help resolve “some of the issues” around sovereignty and help protect Aboriginal culture and heritage.

“I say treaties in the plural sense because we need to recognize the culture of the Aboriginal people,” Mr Mundine said.

“Aboriginal culture is our First Nations, and the first thing we learn about life is that one country cannot talk about the land of another country, only the traditional owners of those lands can talk about those lands.

“And that’s why in our culture it doesn’t make sense when you talk about a state treaty or a national treaty,” he said.

Mr Mundine was asked whether treaties were more likely to be made in a yes or no vote, and he replied that he had ‘serious problems if it was a yes vote, because these people are looking at it on top of the First Nation native title and land rights. fill another bureaucratic burden.

‘We don’t need a new bureaucracy; we need to recognize the traditional owners.”

Six years ago, Mr Mundine wrote that the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia in 1788 was a damaging event for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

“Indigenous people are overwhelmingly feeling anger, sadness and grief at the chain of events that begins on January 26, 1788,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph in 2017.

‘That was when our ancestors began to lose their lands and their ability to speak their languages, practice ceremonies and live under their kinship systems.

‘For as long as I can remember, the indigenous people have called January 26 Invasion Day. More recently, we have also coined the term Survival Day to commemorate our achievements and the survival of our nations against all odds.”

On Sunday, Mr Mundie said he was “standing strong” on his previous calls to change the date of Australia Day from January 26.

“I know that the people on my side disagree with me on these two issues, which are treaties and changing the date,” he said.

‘January 26 will always be an important day because European countries came to Australia and founded their colonies here.

‘We can’t ignore that. But we cannot become prisoners of it. We need to face the facts and move on.

‘Yes, recognize the history. Yes, acknowledge the invasion, acknowledge the good and the bad of our history, but we still have to move on.”

In the official No Case pamphlet sent to voters before the October 14 referendum, Coalition MPs warned that “many activists are campaigning to abolish Australia Day, our flag and other institutions and symbols important to Australians to change’.

Mr Mundine could soon join those same coalition MPs in federal parliament – ​​he is a front-runner to replace retiring former Foreign Secretary Marise Payne in the Senate.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said at the Walk for Yes rally in Melbourne on Sunday that the No campaign has “no solutions” to help Indigenous Australians.

‘We had the No campaign in full view today, with Warren Mundine showing on Insiders that the No campaign has no solutions. The No campaign has no answers.

‘The No campaign is about wanting to achieve practical improvement. The No campaign should vote Yes if they want practical improvement in the lives of Aboriginal people, because that is what this referendum is about.

‘It’s about achieving practical results. We know that with one vote we will achieve practical results.”