Nat Barr has challenged the Albanese Government over the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament in a heated exchange on Sunrise.
During a Hot Topics debate on Monday with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and shadow veteran affairs minister Barnaby Joyce, Barr suggested something was “wrong” with Labor’s campaign strategy for a Yes vote.
During the segment, Joyce said Aussies didn’t want to vote until they had seen the legislation.
When questioned about polling results, which at this point suggest the majority of Australians plan to vote no, Plibersek slammed the Opposition for running a “scare campaign”.
She said she was “determined” to increase support for the Yes vote.
“This is about two really simple things, it’s about changing our constitution to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been here a long time and it’s also about setting up a committee that would give advice to the parliament,” Plibersek said.
“What the No campaign is saying is that we should just keep doing what we’re doing, it should just be more of the same and of course, I don’t agree with that.”
Barr then hit back at Plibersek, asking if the Prime Minister would offer compensation as part of the changes.
“Is that the case? Because when you create a void it is filled with information, that’s what the opposition is doing in this case. They’re saying ‘we don’t have the information’, and they’re the ones filling it and they’re the ones winning,” she asked Plibersek.
“Will there be a financial settlement as part of a percentage of GDP, that’s actually talked about, isn’t it? And a treaty.”
When Barr asked Joyce why the Yes campaign was slipping behind in the polls, Joyce said the referendum was “divisive.”
“It differentiates Australia on race which I think is an anathema in 2023,” Joyce said.
“No one has described it to us, they say it’s going to make issues like health and education better, but they haven’t described how it’s going to do that.
“Why can’t we do that now? Why do we need it to go to the Constitution? It’s overreach.”
Analysis of polling published in The Australian on Monday shows support for the Voice has dropped below 50 per cent in every State — with Western Australia recording the equal lowest rate of support.
The latest numbers in a string of poor results for the Yes campaign show they are ahead of the No vote in just two States — NSW and South Australia — as debate about the referendum kicked off in Canberra.
The Newspoll analysis, of 5417 voters between the end of May and the middle of July, has put the Yes campaign tied with the No vote in Victoria and behind it in Queensland, Tasmania and WA.