The opposition leader has criticised Australian mining giants and other big companies for donating to the ‘yes’ campaign in support of the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said many big companies “lacked a significant backbone” when it came to the upcoming referendum.
“There are a lot of people who are just craving popularity and are trying to please people in the Twittersphere,” he told Sky News Australia on Sunday.
Dutton’s Liberal Party has chosen to campaign for the ‘no’ vote and Dutton maintains there are unanswered questions about how the voice advisory body will work.
His words came as thousands flocked to rallies in Australian cities to promote the ‘yes’ vote.
An affirmative vote will enable a near-permanent advisory body to have the power to make “representations” to the executive and legislative arms of government on all matters deemed relevant to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.
Mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto are on the growing list of corporations in support of the ‘yes’ vote.
Dutton singled out Rio Tinto for doing “significant damage to Indigenous culture” in the past and attempting to atone for it retroactively.
“Instead of trying to deal with these things post the event, they should have had the proper processes in place to stop such an event from taking place,” he said.
In 2020, the mining giant devastated West Australian custodians and sparked outrage by blowing up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge caves.
“There are debates that corporate Australia shouldn’t be involved in, and at the moment, I don’t think they’re paying due consideration to the views of their workforce, to the views of the community,” Dutton said.
Co-founder of the Yes23 campaign, Rachel Perkins, said the latest polls showing a decline in the ‘yes’ vote did not reflect the reality on the ground.
“You don’t necessarily see it on television. You don’t see it in the newspapers, but there are conversations happening around kitchen tables, in sporting clubs, in workplaces around the country,” she told ABC News at a Sydney rally.
“And that’s just going to grow.”
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney urged Australians to “get this done” at an event on Saturday night.
The referendum will be held between October and December.
