GetUp rejects Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's claims of voter exploitation across Indigenous communities

Jarred Cross
Jarred Cross Published October 18, 2023 at 12.30pm (AWST)

Political advocacy group GetUp have slammed Senator Jacinta Price for "harmful behaviour" towards remote Indigenous communities following the Senator's claims of voter exploitation in the bush.

On Saturday, Senator Price questioned the AEC's conduct.

"I think we probably need to look at the way the AEC, the (Northern Territory Electoral Commission), conduct themselves when it comes to remote polling at elections, at referendums," she said.

"I think we should take away those who come in with their how-to-votes, unions that come in and overpower vulnerable Aboriginal communities.

"There is a lot that goes on in remote communities that the rest of Australia doesn't get to see. If we had cameras in those remote communities, at those polling booths, Australia would see what goes on in within those communities. There's a lot of manipulation."

"A vast group of Indigenous Australians did not support this proposal," Senator Price said.

While an early poll showed 83 per cent Indigenous support for the Voice, a poll later in the campaign, with a larger sample size, showed 59 per cent support among Indigenous voters. In the referendum itself, predominantly Indigenous areas, including remote communities in the Northern Territory, voted strongly for the Voice.

Senator Price's comments came in contrast to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who stood firm on an "overwhelming" yes vote cast in some Indigenous communities.

In response to her comments around process, an AEC spokesperson said the ability campaigning in remote communities was equal across remote communities, and that the Commission was "pleased" to deliver the largest ever opportunity for remote voting in the referendum.

On Wednesday, GetUp chief executive and Widjabul Wia-bal woman Larissa Baldwin-Roberts condemned Senator Price's comments regarding Indigenous communities.

"Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's arguments show her paternalistic behaviour - enforcing voter suppression, a move that is harmful to remote communities," she said.

"First Nations people turned out, they brought their communities to the polls, some of them for the first time, they have voted for change.

"We need to do everything we can to ensure that First Nations communities are heard, we need to respect the bush vote in this referendum and beyond."

GetUp actively campaigned for the Voice to Parliament.

In September, the AEC announced Indigenous enrolment rates reached an all-time high of 94.1 per cent.

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