Voice to Parliament: Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles to visit Perth as Yes and No pamphlets raise tension

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has labelled the No campaign’s argument “2000 words of fear” as the release of the official Yes and No case pamphlets escalates tensions between the opposing sides. Opponents of the Voice to Parliament have also been accused of “outrageous” personal attacks and misusing the quotes of a prominent constitutional expert. Mr Marles will be in Perth on Wednesday campaigning for the Voice along with Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce and academy coach and Indigenous leader Roger Hayden. It follows his visit last week to Yule River, near Port Hedland, where Indigenous leaders from the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation presented him with a call to action outlining specific changes needed in education, health, jobs, wellbeing and community safety programs. Mr Marles said it was unsurprising that people who were impacted by programs focused on them had “thought deeply and intimately” about how to make them better. It was an “illuminating local model” of what consultation looked like and the kind of work the Voice would do. “That isn’t rocket science. That’s kind of common sense,” he told The West. “When I looked at the call to action, at a local very granular level it speaks to precisely the philosophy which underpins the Voice to Parliament, that you get better outcomes when you’re working with those who are impacted by the program.” The Yule River bush meeting’s endorsement of a Yes vote in the coming referendum added to support from major Indigenous organisations around the country. Mr Marles said it showed that despite what the No campaign wanted people to believe, it was clear that “the mainstream of Indigenous thought” supported the referendum. ”One of the stories that the campaign needs to be really clear in telling, and I’m sure we will, is just to cut through all the noise and fear of the No campaign,” he said. The Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday published essays from politicians aligned with the Yes and No camps. Mr Marles described the No case as “2000 words of fear, really, without any alternatives or without any solutions”. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the No camp’s decision to target high-profile Indigenous Australians – such as Thomas Mayo – exposed the “lack of substance” in its arguments. The No campaign has repeatedly used historic comments from Mr Mayo to push its claim that “activists” will use an Indigenous Voice to Parliament to pursue other changes, such as reparations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A quote from Mr Mayo along those lines is featured in the official No case pamphlet. “It is outrageous that there is personal attacks taking place on individual Aboriginal Australians,” Mr Albanese said. “This isn’t about any individual being on a ballot paper, this is about recognising Indigenous Australians in our constitution, about listening to them and therefore getting better results. “And it shows the lack of a real argument against this basic constitutional change the fact that people are targeting individuals.” Prominent conservative academic Greg Craven has also condemned the No side for using his comments in its pamphlet against his wishes. Professor Craven earlier this year warned the Voice was “fatally flawed” because it could advise on everything from submarines to parking tickets. But despite his reservations about the model, the constitutional expert is a strong and public supporter of the Voice. The West Australian in June revealed Professor Craven’s anger at the Liberal Party for featuring the same quote on its anti-Voice website. He said on Tuesday he contacted Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s office a week ago asking that his words not be used in the No pamphlet “without attribution”. The pamphlet – unlike the website – does note Professor Craven is a supporter of the Voice before running the same quote about it being “fatally flawed”. But Professor Craven said the extra context was insufficient. “Peter Dutton and his office have known for months that I am a very happy Voice supporter, that I am campaigning for the Voice,” he said. “Why am I in there (the pamphlet)? To give the impression that I’m a constitutional lawyer opposed to the Voice because of fundamental constitutional problems.” A spokesperson for the AEC said the commission’s role as legislated was “to effectively act as a post box”, printing and delivering the Yes and No pamphlets but not fact-checking them. “The deadline for the cases was 11.59pm last night (Monday) and once those cases were submitted to the AEC, legislatively we cannot amend or edit the documents,” they said. Mr Dutton’s office confirmed Professor Craven had been in contact last week, but that his concerns only mentioned Liberal Party or Coalition material, making no references to the No case pamphlet. Asked about Professor Craven’s anger, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said that “lots of different experts have made lots of different remarks about the Voice over periods of time” and she wanted Australians to consider the No side’s argument.