It’s worth remembering that the Liberal party, under Peter #Dutton, began running a soft NO campaign almost immediately after the federal election.
The Nationals announced their opposition to the voice before the question was even put forward.
The referendum was on what Indigenous leaders who co-signed the Uluru statement from the heart had asked for.
It was not Labor’s request nor was it a self-starter policy from Labor or Anthony #Albanese.
It was the request of the Indigenous leaders who had been asked by Tony #Abbott to form a consensus on what form of constitutional recognition they thought was best.
The answer was the #Uluru statement from the heart – #voice truth, treaty.
So this idea that the government didn’t work hard enough to get bipartisan support is #bullshit.
If they had given the #Coalition what it said it wanted (with no guarantees it still wouldn’t have tanked the referendum), then #Labor would have been compromising what Indigenous people had asked for – and it wasn’t Labor’s compromise to make.
This wasn’t just politics. It never is.
But for the opposition to now turn around and blame the government “for a missed opportunity” when it spent the last year doing what it could to destroy the voice proposal – which included asking misleading “questions” – is not only transparently predictable, it is another sad indictment of the state of political “debate” in this country. #auspol
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