A renowned international human rights lawyer says Australia will be unable to criticize China’s Muslim re-education camps if it wins the No vote in the upcoming Voice referendum.
Geoffrey Robertson KC, an Australian-born lawyer based in London, has compared Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people to the detention of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province.
With polls showing the Yes vote is struggling, Mr Robertson has also suggested a No vote on October 14 would destroy Australia’s international reputation and make it harder for former Australian politicians to gain elite roles in leadership of global bodies.
In a op-ed for The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Robertson, who has served on panels with leading human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, suggested Australia would lose the power to speak out on human rights issues if the no vote prevailed.
“They should not underestimate the toxicity inherent in people who are, even unintentionally, linked to racism,” he said.
Geoffrey Robertson KC, an Australian-born lawyer (pictured right with Amal Clooney) based in London, has compared Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people to the detention of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province
“This will tarnish Australians if this referendum, which is now being advertised around the world, does not go ahead.
“It will expose Australia to accusations of hypocrisy if the government complains about China’s discrimination against Uyghurs, and it will undermine the important efforts we are making to be a force for good in the Pacific.”
Mr Robertson KC’s essay angered several readers, with one critic noting that China’s attempt to eliminate the religion and culture of the Uighurs was not comparable to the disadvantage suffered by indigenous people in Australia.
‘The genocide in China does not equate to Australian racism.’
A Yes voter was also indignant. ‘Yes, voter, but it is completely unfair to compare the situation in China with ours. Sorry, this will only encourage the no voters.’
One critic noted that China was actively oppressing the Uyghur minority, while Australia was trying to improve the living standards of Aboriginal people.
“China’s discrimination (more detention and torture than just discrimination) against Uyghurs in modern times is not at all the same as the current experiences of indigenous Australians,” this reader said.
“You cannot conflate past actions, which are acknowledged, with something that is happening now and is denied by the perpetrators.”
Another reader wondered why concerns about Australia’s international reputation should determine how people vote next month.
‘It’s strange that a vote on this could change the overarching legal document that governs a nation. The perception of racism in the world,” one man said.
But one reader agreed that a no vote would make Australia look racist, comparing it to the election of Donald Trump as US president and Britain’s Brexit vote, both in 2016.
‘Absolute. People who actually care about our reputation abroad already know that Australians are considered racist and not very smart,” the reader said.
‘By voting no we only reinforce that idea. We join the Trump voters and the Brexiteers.”
Mr Robertson, who was previously married to author Kathy Lette after dating media personality Nigella Lawson, also suggested a successful No vote would make it harder for Australians to get roles in leading international bodies.
The lawyer, who hosted the TV show Hypotheticals in Australia in the 1980s, was referring to former Liberal finance minister Mathias Cormann who would become secretary general of the OECD in 2021.
“Ironically, Australia will have to significantly mute its own voice within the international community, and it will damage the chances of Australian candidates for international positions if they come from a country seen as unfair to its indigenous people,” Robertson said . .
He compared Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people to the detention of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province (pictured is a camp in Lop County).
The lawyer, who hosted the TV show Hypotheticals in Australia in the 1980s, was referring to former Liberal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann (pictured) who would become OECD Secretary General in 2021.
‘I doubt whether Mathias Cormann would have won appointment to the OECD had his candidacy come in the wake of a referendum defeat for the Voice.’
A Resolve Strategic poll published in Nine newspapers this month showed the No vote leading by 57 per cent to 43 per cent, with support for the Voice now lagging in NSW and Victoria.
Only Tasmania provides a majority for the Yes cause.
If these results were repeated in the referendum, the Voice would fail, as a majority vote is required nationally, along with a majority vote in four of the six states.