Warren Mundine criticized the ‘Yes’ campaign after it broke out that they would ditch celebrity endorsements and trust everyday Australians to use ‘hyphens’ to win over voters.
Polls show that support for the Indigenous Voice in Parliament is plummeting and in danger of being rejected.
To revamp the Yes campaign, it was revealed on Sunday that a more grassroots approach will be taken to win over voters by pulling on their emotions.
The campaign had intended to use high-profile indigenous stars to further the cause, but campaigners have since changed their approach due to concerns that everyday Australians will be turned off because they “don’t like being talked down to”.
Instead, Yes23 campaigners received a nine-page how-to guide, obtained by Daily Mail Australia, outlining 14 scenarios for tough conversations with voters and how best to win their support.
“That’s how pathetic they really are,” Warren Mundine, lead campaigner for the No campaign, told Daily Mail Australia.
Warren Mundine criticized the ‘Yes’ campaign after it broke out that they would ditch celebrity endorsements and trust everyday Australians to use ‘hyphens’ to win over voters.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the vote as a “modest request of the heart” and an “offer” that he hopes all Australians will accept.
‘I don’t need a script to talk to ordinary Australians to listen to ordinary Australians, I am an ordinary Australian myself.
‘I don’t have to go on a course to learn about ordinary Australians or to learn how to speak to Australians. I do that 24/7.’
Mundine said the scripts revealed how “out of touch” Yes campaigners are with most Australians.
“They’ll show up with a piece of A4 paper and say, ‘I just want to talk to you like my fellow Australians,'” he said.
‘Give me a break, these guys are downright clowns.’
The former ALP chairman turned LNP member said appealing to ordinary Australians was always the focus of the No campaign, in contrast to the star-studded Yes effort which was planned to be led by indigenous sports stars like Cathy Freeman and Adam Goodes.
Olympian Cathy Freeman has been one of the indigenous stars used to promote the Yes campaign.
AFL legend Adam Goodes has also lined up to be a part of the Yes campaign.
“It just goes to show how lots of money and celebrities can’t buy a campaign,” Mudine said.
“We did our thing, we always believed in the Australian people and we trusted them and we didn’t insult them and we didn’t insult them.
“Maybe this could be a start for them to learn how great ordinary Australians are and how great this country is.
‘How is it not a racist country, no matter how much they can spit on us. We are the freest and most freedom-loving country in the world.’
Voice’s referendum will take place between October and December, asking the Australian public whether an indigenous advisory body should be established and whether First Nations Peoples should be enshrined in the Constitution.
Many thousands turned out for rallies across the country on Sunday to support the Yes vote, and organizers hope momentum will build despite recent polls showing a decline.
The most recent Newspoll revealed that support for Voice slid to 43 percent with only two states going on to vote yes.
A referendum needs a mandate from the majority of the people in the majority of the states to pass.
A nine-page how-to guide has been published offering 14 scenarios and the best ways to handle them in an attempt to equip Yes voters with all the information they need to sway votes. In the image: Examples of questions and answers in the guide
Many thousands turned out for rallies across the country on Sunday to support the Yes vote, and organizers hope momentum will build despite recent polls showing a decline (a rally in Sydney is shown).
The Yes23 campaign said: “People you know, whether they be friends or family, people at work, your church, your local sports club, will be much more influenced by a conversation with you about this than anything they see or hear from you.” a third”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the vote as a “modest request of the heart” and an “offer” that he hopes all Australians will accept.
But some indigenous Australians, like Mr Mundine, oppose the move, calling it a symbolic exercise that will not actually benefit First Nations people in remote areas.
The lack of details surrounding the parliamentary advisory body has also been questioned.
To combat this, Yes23 volunteers are told to emphasize creating an emotional connection with voters.
They are instructed to have ‘self-support belief’, rather than focus on having all the answers or engaging in ‘intellectual discussion’.
The Yes campaign’s written responses focus on promoting Voice as a ‘stepping stone to justice’ that will be above ‘regular partisan politics’ and is an ‘important practical step’.
Mr Mundine alluded to the inconsistencies of some Voice advocates, including prominent signatory to the Uluru Declaration from the Heart, Thomas Mayo, as a major sticking point.
Prominent Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo with a volunteer during a campaign event, above. Guides given to Yes activists to win over No and undecided voters have been revealed
The unionist has previously described life after a Voice in Parliament is introduced, including reparations for indigenous people, paying “rent” to live on Australian land and abolishing “harmful colonial institutions”.
Mayo also stated in recently discovered tweets from 2018 and 2021 that the parliamentary advisory body could be used to “punish” politicians. But she has since retracted the comments.
“They’re making it up on the lam,” Mundine said.
They change their minds every day or week. They’re saying ‘this is just a small, slight change to the Constitution’ and the next day they’re saying ‘you’ll have a say in everything that happens to this country.’
‘The next day they say again ‘don’t be scared’ and the next day they say that we are going to ‘punish the politicians’.
They have exposed themselves with their hypocrisy and their lies.
Supporters hold banners during a Yes 23 community event in support of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, in Sydney, Sunday, July 2, 2023.
