Kamahl: Confused-looking Australian icon, 88, backflips AGAIN on Voice support as he supports voting No on The Project days after being kicked out for Yes campaign
Australian singer Kamahl has backtracked on his support for Voice to Parliament for the second time, just two days after saying he would vote yes.
The 88-year-old wrote on social media on Friday that he would “vote YES” in the upcoming October 14 referendum, citing a meeting with Indigenous comedian Dane Simpson and constitutional lawyer Eddie Synot during which he promised his support.
But two days later, the Malaysian-born singer spoke out against his own stance, telling The Project he would vote no.
“If you do The Voice that way, it becomes a racist problem. You’re separating a whole race of people from the rest of the country,” he said.
“I apologize, call me a hypocrite or uninformed but I am informed now,” he continued.
Project host Hamish Macdonald (pictured) ‘fact-checked’ Kamahl’s $40 billion claim
“Everything I said before, delete it, but start again and forgive me. »
Kamahl then began clashing with host Hamish Macdonald after the singer began citing a figure of $40 billion that he claimed had been paid to the Indigenous community by the government, and the reporter ” checked “.
“If it happens it will be based on race, indigenous people already have a voice, it’s just an opportunity to make an effort to find out what they want to say and what should be done for them,” he said. he declared in the show.
“And right now it’s $40 billion a year… where is that money going?”
Kamahl was immediately stopped by Macdonald, who asked him where he “got that figure” from.
“The $40 billion? I saw it in…someone told me. Do you think I’m making this up? » replied the singer to the host.
The interview veered off topic, before Kamahl brought up the figure again, saying, “All I know is they’re spending $40 billion.”
“I feel like we should probably fact-check the $40 billion number because you’ve used it many times and I know a lot of people listen to you,” Macdonald said.
Kamahl (pictured on The Project) has changed his mind twice on how he will vote in the upcoming referendum
“I think Tony Abbott said a few years ago that the national agency for Indigenous Australians was spending $30 billion a year.
“This has been verified to be false. The government agency says it never administered $30 billion a year in funding for Indigenous programs, its total budget for 2022-23 was $4.5 billion.
After some exchanges between the two men, Kamahl admitted that he had “made a mistake” on the number, but still chose to vote no.
When announcing his previous Yes position, Kamahl said he had spent “sleepless nights weighing the pros and cons.”
