Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
Key opponents of the Indigenous Voice have switched sides in the final weeks of the referendum to back the Yes case after rising fears that a No victory would align them with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton or One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
The moves reveal the concerns among “progressive No” activists who initially rejected the Voice in favour of stronger action – such as a treaty first – but have moved away from the hardline stance taken by Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe.
Senator Lidia Thorpe spoke to huge crowds at the Treaty Before Voice Invasion Day rally on January 26. Credit: Alexi J Rosenfeld
But Thorpe said the Blak Sovereignty movement, which she leads, was “growing exponentially” and would continue to oppose the Voice, saying she would not switch sides despite calls from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for her support.
With early voting opening on Monday, the Yes campaign is trying to win back voters who have been swayed by conservative critics who say the Voice goes too far and “progressive No” leaders such as Thorpe who see the Voice as a retreat on sovereignty and treaty.
Thorpe’s case has lost ground, however, among some Indigenous people who have shifted to the Yes side as polling day draws closer.
Melbourne activist Tarneen Onus Browne said they were a “hard No” and actively campaigned against the Voice until changing their mind when they saw the risk of a No victory.
Tarneen Onus Browne was a hard no, but has changed her position after watching the rise of far-right extremists opposed to the Voice. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“It is dangerous to those of us in Indigenous communities because of the racism and discrimination it amps up, and I hope to never see another community group be put in danger of right-wing conservatives in a national vote,” they said.
“The racist No campaign is dangerous in so many ways and it has made it okay for neo-Nazis to go out onto the streets of Melbourne – and it’s important for this country to send a message to them by writing Yes in the upcoming referendum.”
Onus Browne is a community organiser for Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance and made headlines five years ago for telling an Invasion Day rally they hoped Australia would “burn to the ground” – a remark they said was about the need for total change to the political system.
“I agree with much of what the progressive No represents, not the racist No – they are two very different campaigns,” they said.
Meriki Onus, from the Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, at a press conference in June 2020 with Tarneen Onus Browne. Credit: Justin McManus
Anti-Voice campaigners such as Nyunggai Warren Mundine have rejected claims their campaign appeals to racism in the community after Yes leader Marcia Langton said earlier this month the No case used racist tactics.
Meriki Onus, a Gunnai-Gunditjmara woman and an organiser for the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, said a key factor for her was the way the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria showed how a federal body could work.
“I agree with much of what the No position is, however, I’m leaning towards voting Yes,” she said.
“We’ve seen an example in Australia where a body similar to the Voice to parliament already functions, and I think that they do really good work and there’s amazing opportunity there. So I would be leaning towards a Yes.”
The Victorian assembly has 32 members who are elected by Indigenous people to represent their communities, with voters choosing representatives from five regions across the state. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney joined the assembly members in Melbourne on Thursday morning to back the Voice.
Onus, who is Thorpe’s younger sister, said she agreed with many of the Victorian senator’s views but had her own personal views about the “yes or no” choice at the referendum.
She said she was not concerned at the claim that setting up the Voice would mean ceding sovereignty and her view was not based on any concerns about Dutton or Hanson.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be put in the same camp as those two – my politics are very different,” she said.
Co-founders of UP: Uprising of the People, Mililma May (right) and Sharna Alley.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Yes campaigners saw Victoria as a stronghold for their cause until a slide in the opinion polls showed the state was slipping toward the No side, making every vote count and increasing the importance of voters once swayed by Thorpe’s arguments against the change.
In Darwin, chief executive of Uprising of the People, Mililma May said she changed her mind to become an “active educator” on the Yes side of the Voice debate because she was concerned about the way a No victory would be seen in the community.
“The idea of a No vote in the Northern Territory scared me in that it could mean a majority of Australians do not care about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices. And that fundamentally felt wrong to me,” she said.
May, whose Darwin-based group acts for Indigenous young people in detention, said she had taken a No position at first.
“I was scared that my sovereignty would be impacted. And I was wary of trusting the government after Australia’s history,” she said.
“Moving beyond those fears, I realised that sovereignty can’t be impacted by voting Yes. And I think it’s healthy to have a level of mistrust of the government, but in a way that can make the government accountable.”
While the comments are at odds with Thorpe’s call to Indigenous Australians to reject the Voice, May made no criticism of the Victorian senator.
“I think that Lidia and I have different understandings of what is going to work for our people, and I think that’s valid,” she said.
Thorpe said the Blak Sovereignty movement had grown on social media and she was not changing her position on the Voice.
“I’m not going Yes, I’m not betraying the movement,” she said.
Asked whether the arguments of No campaigners Mundine and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had had more impact on voters than her own comments, Thorpe said.
“Well if that is true the PM wouldn’t be calling me as often as he does, if I didn’t have any influence over the decision being made in this country,” she said.
“He wants me to support the Yes campaign because it’s embarrassing the government.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
Most Viewed in Politics
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
