Indigenous activist and Voice to Parliament supporter Noel Pearson has condemned Peter Dutton for his ‘Judas betrayal of the country’ in opposing the Voice.
Mr Dutton revealed on Wednesday the Liberal Party would oppose Prime Minister Anthony Albanese‘s policy in its current form.
On the back of the announcement – which did not come as a surprise to many after weeks of Mr Dutton and senior Liberals questioning the mechanics of the Voice – Mr Pearson revealed he was struggling to sleep.
‘I couldn’t sleep last night, I was troubled by dreams and the Dutton Liberal party’s Judas betrayal of our country,’ he told RN Breakfast.
‘I have a great belief that the Liberal Party and Dutton are greatly out of step with the sentiment of the Australian people this is more about [Dutton’s] calculations of Liberal v. Labor, rather than what’s good for the country.
‘He doesn’t mind chucking Indigenous Australians and the future of the country under the bus to preserve his miserable political hide.. and it’s sad.’
The Liberal Party room voted on Wednesday to reject the government’s proposed model for an indigenous body, known as the Voice, which would be formally recognised in the constitution and give advice on any proposed laws which affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait people.
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The Liberals will now campaign against the Voice in the upcoming referendum and would instead propose local and regional Voices which would be legislated but not embedded in the Constitution.
But Mr Pearson argued the Coalition had 11 years in power to enact a ‘proper proposal for recognition’.
‘I see the leader of the Liberal Party Peter Dutton as an undertaker, preparing the grave to bury Uluru and I think that that is a very sad day for Australia that we can’t have bi-partisanship in this important national enterprise’.
Mr Pearson said it was important that supporters of the Voice ‘meet hate with love, fear with understanding, face negativity with hope’ and, most importantly, ‘not contemplate failure’.
He refuses to believe this decision will be reflected in a referendum later this year and that the Voice to Parliament will be voted down.
‘It’s never going to happen.. Peter Dutton’s decision will highly motivate people.. it makes very clear what the decision is,’ he said.
