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EXCLUSIVE
Warren Mundine has broken his silence on his breakdown in a shopping centre after the stress of The Voice campaign suddenly caught up with him.
The leading No campaigner said bitterness and anger over the divisive referendum had taken a huge toll on him and fuelled a bitter rift with his estranged daughter.
The 67-year-old, who also criticised the “racist lies” plaguing Australia, said he was on the brink of collapse after months of vile abuse over his anti-Voice stance.
And he said the escalating debate had also created a rift between him and his daughter, Garigarra Riley-Mundine.
During a trip to a local shopping centre on Sydney’s north shore in May, he suddenly felt overwhelmed by grief and anxiety, he told Daily Mail Australia this week.
“I was thinking about her and I had a panic attack,” he said.
‘It was right before Mother’s Day and I was thinking about my daughter and I just broke down.
“The police and ambulance came and took me to Royal North Shore Hospital and everyone was amazing.”
Warren Mundine says he is slowly recovering from the vile abuse he received during The Voice campaign
Garigarra Riley-Mundine (pictured), one of Warren Mundine’s seven children, has distanced herself from her father’s No campaign.
Mundine made a public appeal to reconnect with her daughter after suffering a panic attack
While receiving treatment in hospital, he publicly attempted to reconnect with Ms Riley-Mundine, posting a photo of them together on X-rated with the caption: “Claw, or any of Claw’s friends, can you ask her to call me please? Her dad.”
Mr Mundine admits he had not spoken to Ms Riley-Mundine in more than four years at the time of the anxiety attack.
But he said he was distressed by an interview she gave to 10News and that he didn’t even know she had become a mother until he saw her on television.
“My daughter walked out of my life, I didn’t even know she was pregnant,” she told Daily Mail Australia at the time.
‘Deeply personal’
In the interview, Ms Riley-Mundine said the man she saw leading the No campaign was not the same man she knew growing up and his views no longer represented those she was taught growing up.
She also said that her father, who met her mother at a protest, had also begun surrounding himself with the same people he rebelled against in his youth.
Although Mundine said he respected his daughter’s opinions, he found the interview personally hurtful because it was conducted by Narelda Jacobs, who he says vilified him during a heated debate on The Voice on SBS last October.
SBS later apologised to Mundine for her treatment by Jacobs during the debate, after she accused him of “abusing” fellow panellist Marcia Langdon, whom she described as a “national treasure”.
Mr Mundine said his mental health had improved following the Voice debate with the help of a psychiatrist.
But he would not reveal how much progress he has made – if any – in repairing his relationship with Ms Riley-Mundine since their split.
“It’s a deeply personal topic and difficult to talk about,” he admitted.
“But the most important thing now is that my daughter knows that I love her and that I am very proud of her and all her successes,
‘I didn’t always agree with my father or my mother, but Mundines, we always supported each other. We always looked out for each other. And we always stuck together.
“In the Mundine family, family always comes first. In the end, that’s all that matters. And she knows that and she knows that I will always have her back, no matter what.”
Mundine says divisive Indigenous Voice debate in Parliament tore communities apart
Narelda Jacobs interviews Garigarra Riley-Mundine at the height of the debate on The Voice
Despite their differing opinions, Mundine says he is proud of his daughter and her views.
‘Racist lies’
Mr Mundine spoke out as he criticised “self-hating elites” who he said were fuelling hatred with their “blatant and bloody lies” about Australia being a racist country.
“All these people do is talk nonsense,” she told Daily Mail Australia. “If they really think Australia is a racist country, what the hell are they doing here? They should go somewhere else.”
“I’m sick of hearing these white elites say, ‘Oh, poor black people, we’re so sorry Australia is a racist country.’ Australia is not racist, that’s a fucking lie.
‘Of course there will always be some racist people, every country has them, but calling Australia a racist country is nonsense and they are talking nonsense.
“It is not useful and does not help anyone.”
He blames “elite” Yes campaigners for fuelling division between families and communities across Australia.
“We’ve been seeing a huge divide among Aboriginal people, between these academic, elitist Aboriginal people and civil servants pushing their own lines, and real people who just want to get on with their lives,” he said.
“Aboriginal people want to work hard and be successful. If you look at it, most Aboriginal people are not radicals. They are conservative – they stand up for their communities and the rule of law.”
Silenced by the voice
He said he believed the Voice debate had actually made many Indigenous Australians feel voiceless.
“They don’t make much noise or get into trouble, but the Voice to Parliament debate made them feel voiceless,” he said.
‘Then they saw people like Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Senator Kerrynne Liddle come forward voicing the views of Aboriginal communities and fighting for them, and fighting the good fight.
“What has happened is that most conservative Aboriginal people have now found their voice and are starting to use it. We didn’t need the government to give us a voice. We will use the one we have.”
Senator Jactina Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine rally support during No campaign
Despite Senator Nampijinpa Price’s popularity, Mr Mundine (who was once considered the man most likely to become the country’s first indigenous prime minister) said he thought it was unlikely she would ever hold the top job.
But the work he was already doing was equally important.
“Jacinta has fought a great battle and has come this far on her own,” he said. “What she does in the Senate is incredible.
‘She came in as if she belonged there – and of course she does – and fought for the good of all Australians.
Why Senator Price will never be Prime Minister
“Now everyone is starting to say, ‘Oh, maybe you’ll be prime minister.'”
‘Well, yes, but there are two problems with that: she is in the wrong party, she is with the rural liberals and she sits with the nationalists.
‘There will never be a prime minister from the liberals or the nationalists of the country; and of course she is in the Senate. But, let’s be honest, none of that really matters.
“What it’s doing is showing children that they can achieve anything. That there’s nothing stopping Aboriginal children – or any children – in this country from doing what they want, because the opportunities are there. It’s all there.
‘What he’s doing is showing everyone that Aboriginal people are sensible, strong, intelligent people, just like everyone else.
“We don’t need someone to pamper us and take care of us; we can do it ourselves.”
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