The architect of the vote, Noel Pearson, sadly admits the Yes vote is likely to fail as he says Australia is a “difficult country” where white people see the constitution as “belonging to them”.
A Voice for Parliament architect has admitted the referendum is headed for defeat, as he takes aim ‘hard’ at Australia for its failure.
Leading Yes campaigner Noel Pearson made the call as he addressed a private function, run by the Yes23 campaign and law firm Gilbert + Tobin, on Monday.
He said he would “keep pushing until the last hour” of the campaign, but “it seems nothing we can do can change the numbers”. Financial Review reported.
“They (Australians) see the Constitution as entirely theirs and no amount of shame on our part, humility, love, seems to melt their hearts,” Pearson is reported to have said.
“The thing that completely baffles me is how resilient the vote is out there for us.”
Noel Pearson (pictured) addressed a function organized by the Yes23 Campaign and law firm Gilbert + Tobin on Monday, admitting that the Voice referendum is heading for defeat
Australia was ‘a difficult place’, he said, adding that he was afraid to tell Indigenous Australians that ‘the trust I begged them to place in white Australia was misplaced’.
Pearson was also critical of No campaign leaders Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine, claiming they did not have ‘their own minds’ in the campaign – being influenced by conservative think tanks the Institute of Public Affairs and the Center for Independent Studies.
Both Mundine and Price have career ties to the Center for Independent Studies.
“I don’t blame Jacinta and Warren,” Pearson added.
“Forgive them Him, for they know not what they do.”
The Voice architect then went on to say the pair were being used as ‘front men’ for the No campaign, with the ‘real power’ coming from right-wing think tanks.
Public opinion towards the Yes campaign has been influenced by ‘frontrunners’ for the No vote, such as Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price, Pearson said.
“All the verses are so obvious,” he said.
The Yes campaign was initially confident of media support both nationally and around the world before it “slipped”, Pearson added.
He also reflected on the six-year journey since the release of the Uluru from the Heart Declaration and on the path taken by the Voice campaign.
“If you were me and you represented a minority who were the original peoples of the country, would you be satisfied with one Voice in the bloody parliament?” the activist asked.
Pearson said in the event of Saturday’s defeat: “There will be no path to the kind of reconciliation that I believe is supported by justice.”
The current poll finds the Yes party has around 41.6 percent support nationally, the Guardian reported.
Although the downward trend in support for the Voice has slowed, the need for a double majority to pass a referendum means the Yes vote needs to be closer to 53 percent to succeed.
Six percent of voters are still undecided ahead of Saturday’s final chance to vote on the Voice proposal.
More than two million Australians have already voted in the referendum, meaning the outcome of the vote may not be known until Saturday night.
