Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney was invited to debate Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Lidia Thorpe on the merits of Indigenous Voice in Parliament on a Channel Seven special on Sunday night, but declined.
Instead, her assistant minister Malarndirri McCarthy went head-to-head with two of the most outspoken senators in Australian politics.
However, Ms Burney appeared on ABC’s Q+A on Monday night.
While she has been targeted and criticized throughout the campaign for her ability to answer questions immediately, her assistant has handled heated exchanges with reporters in the run-up to this weekend’s referendum, drawing on her experience as a journalist. Walkley Award nominee.
During Question Time, ministerial colleagues rushed to Ms Burney’s side to answer the onslaught of opposition questions on the Voice, while critics accused her of failing to convince ordinary Australians to vote Yes on October 14.
Senator McCarthy could be considered a safer pair of hands during heated exchanges with reporters just five days after the historic referendum given her extensive experience as a Walkley Award-nominated journalist.
As the campaign has grown in the community and left the Canberra bubble, Ms Burney has largely left Senator McCarthy to handle the media calls.
Mrs. McCarthy has made a guest appearance Sky NewsABC’s Q+A, in new Voice promotional material and, most recently, in a live debate with Seven’s Spotlight, in which Ms Burney reportedly refused to take part.
Presenter Liam Bartlett made a statement during the event revealing: “As a matter of record for the benefit of our audience… we should note that the Minister for Indigenous Affairs refused to be part of this debate, and specifically to debate you. Senator Price.
“I just want to put it on the record, I think it’s important.”
A No campaign source later told Daily Mail Australia there were no surprises when Ms Burney’s name was not included in the debate.
“We’ve been calling for a debate for months, but Senator Burney has been desperate to avoid a face-to-face with Senator Nampijinpa Price,” the insider said.
“We’re not too upset about it because Senator McCarthy’s final pitch on Sunday night was a disaster for the Yes campaign.
The source said that ‘at the end of the day, the problem is not their salespeople, it’s their product. Australians simply do not want to be divided by race in their Constitution.
Ms McCarthy was a newsreader for ABC News in Darwin and set up her own community radio station in 1998 before entering politics.
The media blitz has seen Ms McCarthy catapulted into the limelight at a time when the Yes campaign desperately needed to inject a new face into the debate.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Burney has been targeted and criticized throughout the campaign for her ability to answer questions on the fly.
Ms McCarthy was catapulted into the limelight at a time when the Yes campaign desperately needed to inject a new face into the debate.
Like Ms Price, Ms McCarthy represents the Northern Territory in the Senate.
She first worked as a reporter and newsreader for the ABC from 1989, when she joined as a teenage cadet, then under the name Barbara McCarthy.
Ms McCarthy was the weekly newsreader for ABC News in Darwin and founded her own community radio station in 1998 before entering politics.
Before winning a seat in the federal Senate at the 2016 federal election, she served in the NT Legislative Assembly from 2005 to 2012.
She then took a break from politics and returned to journalism with NITV, where she was nominated for a Walkley Award for her investigation into the Bowraville murders and two more Walkley nominations for an article on a Mercedes Benz commercial filmed in a place of cultural importance. to indigenous communities.
Ms Burney has been repeatedly criticized for her handling of questions and criticism on The Voice.
She said in July that she would not debate Senator Nampijinpa Price, despite repeated requests to do so.
She argued that The Voice was not about politics and Canberra and that talking to everyday Australians would remain her priority.
“We want an honest and open conversation with Australia about a path to a better future,” she said at the time.
“They want the typical political conflicts and obstacles.”
Pictured: Mrs McCarthy when she was Northern Territory Tourism Minister, posing with Opera Winfrey
Ms McCarthy has appeared as a guest on Sky News, the ABC’s Q+A, in new Voice promotional material and, most recently, in a live debate with Seven’s Spotlight, in which Ms Burney reportedly refused to take part.
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