One of the key figures behind the Indigenous Voice to Parliament has blamed Australia's “hatred of politicians” for the measure's failure.
UNSW law professor Megan Davis, who said she had worked on the proposal for 12 years, said making politicians “too central” was a fatal mistake for the Yes campaign.
While she said racism played a role, the decisive factor was the “tornado-like force” of Australian hatred of politicians that the Yes campaign simply could not overcome.
Professor Davis said the disappointment of referendum night, when it became clear that The Voice was rejected by more than 60 percent of the electorate after failing to win a majority in any state, was still painful.
UNSW law professor Megan Davis said the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was something she had been working on for 12 years
'It was brutal. It looked like a funeral. It was just terrible. It was all terrible,” she told the newspaper Australian Financial Statement.
In the bitter aftermath, Professor Davis said she couldn't even call her mother for two days.
She also confessed that she wanted to hide and not even go out to accept a 'Powerhouse of the Year' award at Marie Claire's 2023 Women of the Year Awards on November 21.
“I can assure you that I was 'under the Doona' until the moment I had to leave (home),” Professor Davis said, even though going out turned out to be “very healthy for me.”
The unlikely thing that continues to give her hope is the high demand for T-shirts endorsing the Voice Foundation document, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which she helped write after the 2017 First Nations National Constitutional Convention.
“People act like we haven't lost, that we're still on our way,” she said.
“They expect us to continue.”
Professor Davis said the crushing disappointment on referendum night, when it became clear that the Voice had been decisively rejected, was like “a funeral”.
'Aussies send all these lovely letters and cards to my office, with little crocheted hearts and photos and drawings of things from the day after, saying, 'I don't know what to say.'
Professor Davis was still given some hope as the measure was supported by 39.4 percent of voters.
'We have to get started with those six million. What does that look like? What do we want?,” she told the Australian Financial Review in her first extended interview since the Oct. 14 referendum defeat.
'What we have now is a movement. And we didn't have that before the referendum.'
'Uluru (statement from the heart) was always meant for the grassroots.
'These groups are not led by anyone, controlled by anyone. They are just ordinary Australians in their communities, who are as devastated as we are and want change.”
Professor Davis also revealed that she shares, at least in part, Australia's distrust of politicians.
“At the ballot box, we select representatives who do not necessarily represent the interests of their constituents … they are almost beholden to interests that are not the interests that elected them,” she said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (photo center) took the political lead in advocating for Voice
She argued that the lack of trust Australians have in their politicians and institutions is partly masked by compulsory voting, creating a favorable environment for 'disinformation'.
Under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Labor leaders and MPs strongly advocated for the Voice, with the Teals and Greens also supporting it.
The coalition opposed it, with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price being a leading No campaigner, but there were some notable dissenters, such as former Shadow Indigenous Affairs spokesperson Julian Leeser.
Professor Davis accused the coalition of being opportunistic.
“The coalition's position was about electoral fortunes, not about good governance or recognition,” she said.
She also blamed “political ideology”, saying the Voice, a coalition policy, had become an “ideological football”.
She remains committed to structural changes in government to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians, as everything else is 'tinkering around the edges' and 'hoping you'll make a difference'.
The professor has thrown himself into co-authoring a book with UNSW colleague Gabrielle Appleby on the legal aspects of the referendum.
She is also collaborating on a collection of essays with Sana Nakata of the Indigenous Education and Research Center at James Cook University in Townsville.
