Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has marked two years since the Voice Referendum defeat, reiterating her argument that the proposal would have divided Australia along racial lines.
Last week marked the second anniversary of the referendum, which sought constitutional recognition for First Peoples through the establishment of a national advisory body. Supporters described it as a "gracious" and "modest" request, while opponents denounced it as government overreach and even "racist" during a bitterly contested campaign.
Senator Price rose to national prominence for her outspoken opposition to the proposal, a stance which resonated with many conservatives but angered some Indigenous groups over her comments on colonisation.
In an email to supporters on Friday, she thanked those who voted 'no,' saying the Voice would have been an "institution for activists to demonise British settlement and delegitimise the achievement of modern Australia," one that would have rewritten history and placed "divisive racial politics at the centre of our policymaking".
She also argued that advocates of the Voice "haven't learned a single lesson from it," blaming the lack of progress on Indigenous disadvantage on "more bureaucracy, more victimhood narratives, and more performative symbolism".
Expanding on those comments in a statement last week, Senator Price said: "The worthy goals of reconciliation and rectifying Indigenous disadvantage were not front and centre of the activists' minds. They pushed so hard for a constitutional Voice because they wanted power to carry forward an agenda driven by retribution and resentment."
View this post on Instagram
Voice supporters, however, maintain the advisory body was intended to allow Indigenous Australians to propose self-determined solutions to Parliament. Recent Closing the Gap data shows outcomes for many key indicators continue to worsen across the country.
The co-chairs of the Uluru Dialogue, Professor Megan Davis and Pat Anderson, said last week the reasons behind the Prime Minister's decision to hold the referendum "have not changed," arguing that "the status quo remains".
Without a national body, they said, "First Nations people still have no voice, and this manifests in the relentless and unyielding gap in disadvantage," noting that data delays make improvements difficult to track.
Uluru Youth Dialogue ambassador Brydie Zorz told National Indigenous Times political representation remains essential to reform.
"I think the story is still incomplete until we address constitutional recognition and structural reform on a national level. So I think the Voice is still a really high priority," she said.
Senator Price used the anniversary to claim some supporters of the Voice "arrogantly refuse to accept the democratic will of the people".
"Many of those who pushed the referendum haven't accepted the result," she said, adding Australians voted 'no' to "voice, treaty and truth-telling".
The Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for voice, treaty and truth; however, only the Voice proposal was put to voters in 2023. Despite this, conservative commentators and some 'No' campaigners have since argued that pursuing truth-telling or treaty processes defies the electorate's wishes.
Victoria, meanwhile, has continued its own Treaty process with First Peoples, represented by the First Peoples' Assembly. Traditional Owners say formalised decision-making is crucial to closing the gap.
"The time for paternalistic Governments making decisions on behalf of our people ends with this Treaty," Assembly Co-Chair Ngarra Murray said in Parliament last week.
"No longer will policies be made about us, without us. Our people will no longer tolerate being the political football that politicians kick around looking to further their own selfish interests."
Following Labor's re-election in May, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said she remains "very much open to listening to what people have to say" on Truth-telling and Treaty, declining to rule out progress on either during this term.
