Think Tank Calls for Respectful Debate Around Indigenous Voice Following Attack on Senator’s Views

A child plays at sunset in the Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu, in the shadow of Uluru, in the Northern Territory Jason South/Getty Images

The conservative think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), has called for the debate around the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament to be respectful and constructive.

This comes after Indigenous Voice advocate Noel Pearson told ABC Radio National that the IPA was in part manipulating Indigenous Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Yangapi Nampijinpa Price into a “redneck celebrity vortex” to “punch down” other indigenous Australians. Pearson also said that Price reminded him of outspoken conservative One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson.

“She’s caught in a vortex,“ Pearson said. ”It’s a celebrity vortex, it’s very compelling, it gets her out in front of people, and it gets a lot of cheers, but it’s also a redneck celebrity vortex, and ultimately, it’s a tragic redneck celebrity vortex that she’s caught up in and it involves right-wing people, particularly the Sydney and Melbourne based right-wing think tanks—the Institute of Public Affairs and the Centre for Independent Studies.”

Both Price and Pearson have worked with the Centre of Independent Studies (CIS), with Pearson last working with the CIS in 2021 and Price in 2022. Price also appeared on the IPA’s The Young IPA podcast in 2018.

Director of the IPA Morgan Begg, in a statement to The Epoch Times, said that the debate around the Voice was important and it needed to be carried out in a “respectful and constructive manner, and all sides of the debate deserve to be heard.”

“The Institute of Public Affairs believes that all Australians should be equal, and the legal status of Australians should never be determined by skin colour or ethnic heritage,” Begg said.  

“There is broad agreement on both sides of the debate about how we can improve the lives of Indigenous Australians, including through localism, real property rights, and regional economic development. We must unify around practical approaches to improve the lives of all Australians, rather than being divided by race.” 

Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Price makes her maiden speech in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on July 27, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Australians Do Not Want Race As Part of the Constitution

Begg also noted in a media release that establishing an Indigenous-only body in our constitution would permanently divide Australians by race.

“The Nationals’ position is consistent with the values of mainstream Australians. A growing majority of mainstream Australians share the egalitarian belief that we are all equal and that race has no place in the constitution,” he said.

He noted that in recent research conducted by the IPA when Australians were asked to agree or disagree with the statement: “All references to race should be removed from Australia’s constitution,” 59 percent of respondents agreed it should be the way forward.

Further, while 29 percent were natural to the proposal, only 12 percent of Australians disagreed.

When asked the same question in 2019, the IPA found that 45 percent of Australians wanted race removed from the constitution, while 16 percent disagreed.

Begg noted that this result represented an increase in Australians who want references to race taken out of our constitution.

“The egalitarian spirit which drove Australians to vote in 1967 to remove constitutional references to race remains a mainstream Australian value. Race has no place in our constitution,” Begg said.

“Establishing an Indigenous-only body in our constitution would permanently divide Australians by race, and on that basis alone, the proposed referendum must be shelved.”

Voice Debate Gets Heated

Meanwhile, Price has responded to Pearson’s comments on social media and in a statement, saying she is no stranger to verbal attacks on her opinions.

“I am no stranger to attacks from angry men who claim to speak on behalf of Aboriginal Australia,” she said in a statement reported by the Australian.

“We didn’t need a crystal ball to know that if you do not agree with the Voice to parliament, you will be called names, be accused of racism, bigotry, and it will also be suggested that you are incapable of thinking for yourself. The ugly side of the Voice to Parliament is now on display for the country to witness.”

Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Price (R) is handed a nalanala (fighting stick that represents country) by grandmother Tess Napaljarri Ross (L) during an indigenous ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 27, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Price has been an outspoken critic of the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The senator noted that she had spoken to people throughout communities in the Northern Territory whose first language is not English and that they had told her they did not understand what the Voice proposal was about.

She said they are more concerned about how to not encounter violence in their lives, how to manage their affairs without being cheated by their relatives who are dealing with alcohol and substance abuse or worrying about how to ensure their kids are actually going to get to school because their remote community is swamped by alcohol-fuelled violence.

“These are the issues that people are concerned with them concerned with,” Price said.

Price also said the Labor government’s Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Linda Burney, a Wiradjuri woman, was out of touch with Indigenous communities and that there were many Indigenous Australians who did not support the Voice.

“Minister Burney might be able to take a private jet out to a remote community dripping with Gucci and tell people in the dirt, what’s good for them, but they are in the dark, and they have been in the dark,” Price said.