Prominent Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo has addressed vicious rumors about his heritage and family as he prepares for the final three weeks of campaigning for Voice of Parliament.
The former pier has become a household name ahead of the referendum, working closely with Anthony Albanese’s government to help promote the Yes vote.
And he has faced his fair share of criticism after comments from his past resurfaced calling for reparations, for “rent” to be paid to First Nations people and for the date of Australia Day to be changed. (He later told Daily Mail Australia that his opinion had changed as the referendum debate progressed.)
Critics have repeatedly raised questions about Mayo’s heritage. In an interview with Betoota LawyerMayo called the insinuations “shocking.”
“It’s been quite shocking to see photos of your parents shared, saying we’re not genuinely indigenous,” he said.
Thomas Mayo (pictured with Melanie Mayo) has addressed vicious rumors about his heritage and family as he prepares for the final three weeks of campaigning for Voice to Parliament.
The former pier has become a household name ahead of the referendum and is working closely with the government to help promote the Yes vote.
Mayo’s father is from the Torres Strait Islands. Her great-great-grandfather came to the Torres Strait from the Philippines and married a local woman.
His maternal grandparents are English, Irish and Polish.
“I wasn’t from a family of activists or anything like that,” he said. When the interviewer pointed out that she had been at the center of “multiple conspiracies,” Mayo said the rumors she had heard were “really crazy.”
“I have never been a member of the Communist Party,” he added. “You can combine all these videos and make people look scary.”
The references to the Communist Party come after Mayo spoke at a Search Foundation forum, an organization once linked to the former Communist Party of Australia.
Mayo has been touring Australia campaigning for the Yes vote and said he is looking forward to October 15, when he can finally take a break.
“I’ve been working hard on this for six years,” he said.
Mayo’s father is from the Torres Strait Islands. Her great-great-grandfather came to the Torres Strait from the Philippines and married a local woman.
While back-to-back polls have seen support fall for Voice, Mayo, the government and the official Yes23 campaign are still hopeful they can secure a victory on October 14.
His message to the public is: “don’t take yourselves for fools.”
‘It’s an advisory committee. They are trying to trick you.
Just over a third of Australians (36 per cent) say they will vote Yes for Parliament, according to Newspoll’s poll of 1,239 voters for The Australian.
This marks a drop of two points over the past three weeks, the lowest level yet for the embattled Yes campaign.
Meanwhile, opposition to the historic referendum has risen slightly to 56 percent with less than three weeks until Election Day.
Mayo said the Coalition, which supports the No vote, was doing nothing more than “seeking a cheap victory”.
“What a hill to die on,” he said.
One of the biggest criticisms of Voice to Parliament is that there is “not enough detail” for the Australian public.
This message has become one of the most successful of the No campaign and is the main reason why Australians vote No according to the Redbridge poll.
But Mayo said that is also false. He said the details of the Voice are available and do not need to be in the referendum question itself.
He described the constitution as “passport-sized” and said there are no other examples where all the details are written in it.
“It doesn’t contain the mechanics,” he said. ‘It just has top-notch stuff. It gives parliament the power to collect taxes, it does not say how many taxes. Gives flexibility.
“It just says there should be elections, it doesn’t say how many people are in Parliament.”
Mayo was a signatory of the Uluru Declaration from the Heart