Foreign Minister Penny Wong says there are some No campaigners who are saying things “designed to make people fearful” about the Voice to Parliament.
Key points:
- Penny Wong has described comments made by John Howard in 1997 as a “shameful moment”
- She says some No campaigners seek to remind Australians of differences
- Fears around the Voice will be proven unfounded, Senator Wong says
Nine newspapers on Tuesday afternoon reported a leaked audio recording from the ALP’s weekend conference in which Ms Wong lamented the conduct of the Voice debate.
In the transcripts of the audio, which reportedly captures a dinner conversation including Ms Wong and the prime minister speaking in Brisbane last week, she references a 1997 interview of former primer minister John Howard on 7.30.
In that interview, conducted during the Mabo debate on native title, Mr Howard showed a map of Australia with a portion shaded brown and claimed Labor and the Democrats – a significant minor party at the time – wanted Indigenous Australians to have a “right of veto” over 78 per cent of the landmass.
In the leaked audio, Ms Wong describes Mr Howard’s comments as a “shameful moment”.
“We are in many ways back there,” she reportedly said.
Ms Wong said she had never forgotten it.
“I do remember how I, and many Australians, felt at the time of that interview about what was said, and the prime minister of the day holding up that map,” she said.
She told 7.30 history had shown Mr Howard’s argument was “exaggerated”.
“Your viewers, I’m sure, can make up their own minds about that,” she said.
Speaking about the current debate on the Voice, Ms Wong said: “I also observe that there are those who oppose this, who don’t seek to unite this country, who seek to remind us of difference.”
Asked about the influence of former prime ministers Howard and Tony Abbott on the No campaign, she described them as “effective politicians”.
She said: “A lot of change in this country has been resisted on the basis that things would be really bad if it happened, whether it is Mabo and Wick, whether it is the apology, whether it is marriage equality and those fears turned out to be unfounded. I believe it will be the same when it comes to the Voice.”
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