Andrew Bolt attacks Yes campaign’s ad: Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Sky News host Andrew Bolt has brutally attacked the Yes campaign’s latest advert featuring a young Aboriginal boy.

The 30-second advert features the Indigenous boy asking Australians to think about a series of simple questions about his future, urging them to vote yes.

“Will I grow up in a country that hears my voice? Will I live as long as other Australians? Will I be able to go to a good school? » asked the boy.

The advert tugged at the heartstrings of Australians, except for Bolt who appeared impassive as he took it down in his latest News Corp. Sunday column.

The commenter called the anonymous boy “Sam” before saying he shouldn’t believe people who told him only a yes vote made a good life possible.

His column took a bizarre turn by addressing one of the boy’s concerns about a shorter life expectancy and telling him to “eat healthy foods and exercise” instead.

The boy asked if he would “live as long as other Australians” – a reference to the fact that Indigenous men die on average 8.6 years earlier than non-Indigenous men.

Bolt wrote that there was no reason why he could not live as long as the average Australian.

“Just eat healthy foods, exercise, and take care of yourself. Don’t smoke, drink or do other dangerous things and you should be fine,” he wrote.

He added a warning that the Voice can’t “magically” help him live longer, he has to do it himself.

“Someone in the Yes23 campaign should have done a favor for the worried boy they may have played in their new advert for The Voice,” Bolt wrote.

“They should have told him the truth.”

The boy also asked the question: “Will I grow up in a country that hears my voice?”

Bolt said the boy already had a voice and being in the ad, part of a $20 million TV blitz ahead of the Oct. 14 vote, proves it.

He told the boy that if he wanted an even bigger voice, he could become an activist like the people who put him in advertising, or a writer, a business owner, a preacher, or an actor.

“Or become a politician, like the 11 members of our Federal Parliament who also identify as Indigenous. What a powerful voice you would have then!

The Sky News presenter also answered the boy’s question: “Will I be able to go to a good school?”

“I’m guessing from your speaking ability you’re probably already at a good school,” Bolt wrote, adding that Indigenous Labor politician Pat Dodson attended a better school than him.

He also said the young boy could learn an indigenous language if he wanted, but “there’s no better place than English if you want to get ahead” in Australia.

The boy also feared being seen beyond the sporting realm – a reference to the many Indigenous athletes playing in the NRL, AFL and other sports.

Bolt’s response to this was that there are many other areas in which Indigenous Australians have had great success, singling out prominent No campaigner and Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as one of “my own Aboriginal heroes.

The latest advert from the Yes campaign will run alongside the You’re the Voice advert featuring the famous John Farnham song.

The percentage of Australians in favor of the referendum has fallen for the fifth consecutive month and since the last poll, Victoria has moved to a No majority, leaving Tasmania the only state remaining in the Yes camp.

“Don’t trust anyone who tells you that Aboriginal people can only be sportsmen,” he advises, adding that the Yes23 campaign is being led by director Rachel Perkins, whose father “was the first Aboriginal person to direct a government department.

With less than four weeks until the referendum date, the Yes campaign is hoping its latest ad will change the way people intend to vote, as all recent polls indicate it is heading for a major defeat.

The most recent Resolve Political Monitor survey showed that only 43 percent of voters supported a plan to enshrine Voice in the Constitution, a drop of 20 percentage points from last year.

It remains to be seen whether the advert featuring the young boy has the same effect as one using John Farnham’s song You’re The Voice: people like the advert, but it doesn’t make them more likely to vote yes.

READ MORE: Barnaby Joyce refuses to answer whether he supports Australia Day change

Fractures in the No campaign over what would happen if the Indigenous Voice to Parliament were rejected made for some bizarre scenes on Sunrise.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce failed to back No leader Warren Mundine on Monday morning, a day after the Bundjalung man suggested a no vote was the best way to reach a treaty and supported changing the date of Australia Day.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce failed to support No campaign leader Warren Mundine on Monday morning, despite being asked five times by Sunrise host Natalie Barr.