It's racist to assume Aboriginals will vote 'yes' in rights referendum, says indigenous senator

Sarah Newey
Thu, 28 September 2023 

Ms Thorpe, who is of DjabWurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara descent, says Australia's First Peoples are 'seeing right through' the proposal - Sam Mooy/Getty Images

It is “ignorant and racist” to insist all Aboriginal people support a vote to give them more power, a leading indigenous campaigner has said.

Lidia Thorpe, Victoria state’s first indigenous senator, told The Telegraph that she believes the Yes campaign is wrongly suggesting all No voters are racist in the increasingly controversial poll.

The ruling Labor government is on course for a crushing defeat in its referendum, which asks Australians whether Aboriginal people should be consulted on major policies: a policy known as The Voice.


Ms Thorpe said of the divisive campaign: “Labor just points to the ‘racist no’ campaign, and says, ‘you don’t want to side with that.’

“I think that’s part of the ignorance and the racism coming out in this whole debate, that First People can’t say no because they are automatically put into this ‘racist no’ category. That in itself is racist.”

The Labor Party policy would lead to the first mention of Australia’s indigenous population in the constitution, and seeks to create a permanent body which would be consulted on issues affecting the lives of Aboriginal people.

Australia 'The Voice' referendum

Activists linked to the Labor Party in the Yes campaign have accused the No campaign of “racist tactics” in the national debate labelled “Australia’s Brexit”.

Although roughly two thirds of Australians backed the policy at the start of the year, the latest polls suggest only 36 per cent of people intend to vote “Yes”, and 56 per cent support “No”.

Ms Thorpe said part of the drop is because Aboriginal people and the country’s other Indigenous group, Torres Strait Islanders, are “seeing right through” the Voice proposal as “it has no power”.

“I am feeling in my heart that more and more First Peoples in this country are backing away from the Yes campaign,” she said. “There’s certainly nothing to be excited about – a powerless voice that may provide advice to the parliament? It’s a real kick in the teeth, when it comes to everything our people have fought for over 250 years.”

Debates around the referendum have become so emotionally charged that it has been described as the country’s “Brexit moment” by one Indigenous activist.

A 'Yes' campaign poster is modified with dissenting graffiti - James D. Morgan/Getty Images

For supporters, the move is a long overdue step towards addressing a colonial history more commonly ignored – known as “the Great Australian Silence”. They also argue that it will help to tackle huge inequalities that persist for First Nations people: including homeless rates nine times higher than the non-indigenous population, an incarceration rate 14 times greater and life expectancies around 10 years shorter.

The No campaign, led by the conservative opposition, argues it will create extra bureaucracy, embed “racial privilege” into the constitution and turn Indigenous people into victims.

Another vociferous group of “progressive no” campaigners, including Ms Thorpe, argue that The Voice does not go nearly far enough.

A descendant of the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung people, Ms Thorpe grew up on a council estate in Melbourne. Now 50, her path to the senate has been unconventional – she had her first child aged 17, later escaped domestic violence and was declared bankrupt in 2013.

But in 2017 she made her national political debut as a Green MP in Melbourne, before becoming Victoria state’s first Aboriginal senator three years later. In February, she quit the Greens, partly because of their pro-Voice stance.

She has called for the referendum to be cancelled, warning debates over a “powerless” advisory body that is not actually needed to tackle issues have “torn [Indigenous] families and communities apart”.

People take part in a 'Walk for Yes' rally in Sydney on Sept 17 - Andrew Leeson/AFP

Ms Thorpe is also concerned that a vote for The Voice would set back efforts to negotiate a treaty with Aboriginal people.

As it stands, Australia is the only Commonwealth country that has not signed any treaty with its Indigenous peoples. Proponents say The Voice is a step closer to rectifying this – building on the 1967 referendum (which included Indigenous people in the census) and the Mabo Decision in the High Court in 1992 (which overturned the idea that the country was a “land belonging to no one” when the British arrived).

But in Ms Thorpe’s view, treaties must come first. “We need a treaty to unify this country. And through treaty, you then negotiate what constitutional recognition looks like. You don’t jump into the Constitution and then try and work out the settlement later. It doesn’t make sense.”

It’s a topic she’d like to discuss with King Charles – although her letters requesting for dialogue with the monarch have so far fallen on deaf ears.

“I’ve also written to his naughty son, hoping maybe his little activism will make him write a letter. But no response,” she said. “I would like to have a respectful conversation with the King of your country about a way forward.”

But for now, she is hoping the country votes “No” on Oct 14.

“A no result will start a revolution of First People’s around this country, to continue the legacy of our people who called for truth-telling and treaty,” she said. “And that’s the revolution we need to unite this country and mature as a nation.”