MALLEE voters and those around the nation have resoundingly rejected the Federal Government push for an Indigenous voice to parliament amid concerns the referendum has caused harm and “yes” campaigners have been “incredibly destructive”.
The Mallee topped the “no” vote in Victoria with 78.5 per cent of the near 100,000 eligible voters rejecting the Voice — one of the top 10 regions Australia-wide as of the close of counting Saturday.
Member for Mallee and “no” vote supporter Anne Webster said the choice of people in the Mallee had been definitive and had made their voices “very clear”.
However, Dr Webster said the referendum had “unfortunately” become political and the concept of one nation for all would depend “on how the Prime Minister plays this going forward”.
“There has certainly been harm caused,” she said.
“You listen to some of the Indigenous elite leaders of the ‘Yes’ campaign and I think the tone of what they are saying now is incredibly destructive.
“I don’t see any ill will in this ‘no’ vote at all — I want to see a more united Australia going forward, to lift our eyes to the horizon, to look at a better future for all in Australia regardless of race.”
The “yes” vote failed to get up in any state with the ACT is the only jurisdiction to support the move.
Mallee polling booths in Underbool (92.5 per cent) and Manangatang (91.3 per cent) returned the highest “no” votes, while those turning out to the polls at Mildura West Primary School had the highest “yes” vote with 33.8 per cent.
Dr Webster said it was “incredibly unfortunate” that “yes” campaigners and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had mistakenly interpreted that people voted “no” for the same reason.
“People are going to have their own reasons for voting ‘no’,” she said.
“Talking with Jacinta (Nationals colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price) and hearing her experience on the ground has absolutely clarified, obviously some time ago for the National Party, the view that we took to the referendum.
“I think the general view is that Australia wants to be one, we want to be all equal and not divided by race and that was our primary argument.
“But the referendum has been conclusive and we need to move forward now, we need to embrace how things can be done differently and better and we can get better outcomes.”
Dr Webster said there now needed to be a “serious conversation” about rights and responsibilities to help find a way forward.
“Life is not free and it should never be without responsibility — people need to take responsibility for choices that they make,” she said.
“Yes, there are things that happen to every one of us that we don’t choose, but we do have a choice about how we respond and how we walk forward.
“We need to be able to do a full audit of where funding is going now, which programs are working, which ones are not and listen to people on the ground and hear what they have to say about those programs.
“Closing the gap is occurring across the nation in various ways, but there are particular sectors in our communities, our remote communities particularly, at a state level as well where there is continuing disadvantage and vulnerability.
“There ought to be scrutiny about outcomes and if the outcomes are not occurring then questions need to be asked and measures need to be put in place and potentially funding withdrawn — that’s how strongly I feel about it.”
The Member for Mallee said it was “one of my greatest disappointments” that ASX-listed companies and corporations including the AFL and NRL bought into one side of the “people’s vote”.
“They spent shareholders’ money and got it wrong and I hope they are held to account,” she said.
“My fervent wish is that sporting codes would get out of the socio-political environment and do what they do best which is to allow people, structure and work towards people enjoying sport more, rather than getting involved in things that they absolutely should not presume that they speak for everyone, because clearly in this case they all got it wrong.”
