Well, the federal Liberal Party has finally found its shrivelled, atrophied testicles on one issue, at least. In a potentially fatal blow to PM Anthony Albanese’s signature issue, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has finally announced that the Liberals will formally oppose the “Voice” referendum.
The announcement ends months of fence-setting, during which it appeared likely that, once again, Australians would be subjected to a one-sided, elitist campaign that brooked no dissent. Indeed, in contravention of electoral requirements, the government was refusing to fund equal “Yes” and “No” campaigns.
Dutton’s decision changes the game entirely.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton will actively campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament ahead of the referendum and has bound his frontbench to reject Anthony Albanese’s proposed model, prompting the Prime Minister to concede a Yes victory has been made more difficult.
Following a special two-hour Liberal party room meeting in Parliament House on Wednesday, which was called in the wake of the disastrous Aston by-election loss, the party endorsed constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians but opposed the government’s proposal to enshrine a national voice in the Constitution.
Instead, Liberals will advocate for regional and local voices to be established by legislation.
The Australian
Which is a sop to the Wets, of course. Even if it doesn’t address the basic question of fairness: is it fair that one group only is granted the privilege of a “voice”, solely on the basis of their race? This is why Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, in a rare departure from leftist groupthink, pointed out that the “Voice”, “inserts race into the Australian Constitution in a way that undermines the foundational human rights principles of equality and non-discrimination”.
Naturally, the decision has infuriated the race grifters. Noel Pearson — whose “Cape York Initiative” has over the years trousered hundreds of millions, with no discernable outcome — immediately attacked Dutton. But then, Pearson is also alleged to regularly berate “fucking white cunts” who question his taxpayer-funded grifts. Even the woker-than-thou ABC was lashed as “a miserable, racist national broadcaster”, after it reported government scrutiny of unexplained cash movements involving his organisation.
This is the modus operandi of “Voice” proponents: they never defend criticisms of their proposal, or answer legitimate questions. All they ever do is screech “racist” at anyone who disagrees with them. Pearson is at least giving us a preview of what a Voice would look like in operation.
The problem is that too many Liberal wets are so terrified of that, that they’re willing to keep on alienating the party’s base, in order to pander to inner-city greens.
Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, Australia’s only Liberal premier, told The Australian that while recognising there was “discussion” around the wording of the referendum question, he would “vigorously” campaign for a Yes vote. “My views are clear: this is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history,” he said.
Well, that’s the Libs gone at the next state election in Tas, too, if this dripping wet nong is going to keep on being another Labor-lite loser.
Speaking of which: there’s no wet pansy party in Tasmania complete without the patron saint of upper-middle-class ‘“high-minded’ women”, who to quote Orwell, “come nocking to the smell of ‘progress’ like bluebottles to a dead cat”.
Tasmanian Liberal Bridget Archer was the only MP to publicly and directly oppose the position, saying it had tested her faith in the party.
Archer really ought to take her twinset and pearls and stump off to the Greens, where she clearly wants to belong.
At least other Liberal women actually remember the party’s principles.
Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes said the voice debate was “divisive” after one of the architects of the Uluru statement, Noel Pearson, called Opposition Leader Peter Dutton an “undertaker” attempting to kill and bury Uluru.
“If you ask how this is actually going to create a better environment for Indigenous Australians not just be some sort of woke virtue signal that then opens up government to being challenged in the High Court, then somehow you are a racist or you are a bigot, or in Noel Pearson’s words an undertaker. These are the kinds of words that are going to divide Australia,” she told Sky News.
She said she was “absolutely 100 percent” with Mr Dutton.
Senator Hughes said the difference between their proposal around local and regional Indigenous voices was that it was legislated.
“The difference is we’re looking at something that’s legislated. Legislation is a lot easier to change than a constitution. And it also allows the Australian people to see how this is going to work … It’s almost a try before you buy.”
“Australians don’t change this document lightly.”
The Australian
But Dutton’s principled stance has to have Labor strategists sweating. Referendums never pass in Australia without bipartisan support — and even then, rarely. But, like David Cameron with Brexit, Albanese has staked his political capital to the “Voice”. If it fails, he’s in deep trouble.
Not least because, on every issue of importance to Australian voters — the economy, housing, cost of living, power bills — Albo’s got nuthin’. Everything is getting demonstrably worse.
And all he’s got to offer is a divisive, racist Constitutional amendment.