Those conservatives failing to call out Peter Dutton’s Trumpian claims ought to take a good hard look at themselves
There’s no shortage of voices condemning Peter Dutton’s suggestion that the referendum is “rigged”, as he probes the Australian Electoral Commission over the fact that crosses will not be counted on the Yes/No ballot, while ticks will be – a rule consistent with prior referendums. “I don’t think we should have a process that’s rigged, and that’s what the prime minister’s tried to orchestrate from day one,” the opposition leader said conspiratorially on Friday, accusing advocates of trying to “skew” the vote. The AEC has “completely and utterly” rejected such claims, saying it is “transparently following the established, public and known legislative requirements”. Dutton today doubled down, with a letter to the commission claiming it risks “distorting” the vote, and may “undermine the impartiality and fairness of the referendum”. It’s obvious that the “No” camp is preparing to undermine the outcome should it not go their way. Have members of the Coalition learnt nothing from watching their US counterparts follow Donald Trump down the rabbit hole, happily undermining democracy if it means undermining their enemies? Is anyone on the “No” side going to heed the warnings of Voice-supporting Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who last week urged colleagues to steer clear of “red Trumpian hats”?
There is some truly alarming stuff going on in “No” land. As Guardian Australia reports, Fair Australia – the unofficial “No” campaign group of right-wing lobby group Advance Australia – has posted a video featuring the AEC commissioner’s words set to a cover of Leonard Cohen’s song “Everybody Knows”, including the lyrics “everybody knows that the dice are loaded”. And it’s not just online. Many in the media are also throwing doubt over the AEC rules, despite the fact they are the same rules used by the Howard government in the 1999 republic referendum. 2GB’s Ben Fordham, who has long since given up any pretence of being a moderate commentator, said the rules sounded “dodgy”, warning of an “unlevel playing field”, while News Corp’s Rita Panahi said it was “the sort of bias from officialdom you’d expect to see in a despot nation”. There has been little mention of the fact that fewer than 1 per cent of 1999’s votes were informal, with crosses forming only a small portion of those.
All of this is deeply concerning. As Liberal MP Bridget Archer said yesterday, “it is irresponsible to cast doubt on the integrity of the AEC”, noting this was “a deliberate attempt to confuse people or induce them to question the validity of the result”. ALP national president Wayne Swan was even more direct, telling Today that Dutton’s claims were “complete rubbish”. “This is just the ‘No’ case out there using the electoral system to try to discredit the Voice,” Swan said, noting that “discrediting basic electoral arrangements” was something of a pattern for right-wing parties. Independent ACT Senator David Pocock, meanwhile, labelled it “a new low”, sharing a clip from Sunday’s Insiders, in which David Speers, Laura Tingle and Sean Kelly all expressed alarm at the Coalition’s willingness to undermine the vote. “I find this really disturbing,” said Tingle. “I mean, these guys are supposed to be the conservatives. They’re supposed to be protecting and respecting institutions.”
Most Coalition MPs have been unwilling to echo the words “rigged”. But few have actually condemned what Dutton is doing here. Asked about Dutton’s claims on News Breakfast this morning, Nationals leader David Littleproud said he did not agree that the AEC was being “unfair”. But he nevertheless called on the commission to “recoil from their position” – a position that has been consistent since the 1980s. Liberal Senator Jane Hume, meanwhile, told Sky News that it was an “inconsistency” that a tick would count but a cross would not. “I think we want to make sure that integrity is central to the voice referendum,” Hume added, suggesting counting crosses would “give people comfort that the result is as clean and neat as possible”. I wonder where people might get the idea that the result is not “clean”? Of course, much of this confusion could be avoided if people simply voted “Yes” or “No”, as the AEC is urging them to do. But what else would you expect from a campaign with the sophisticated slogan “If you don’t know, vote ‘No’”?
Given the high-profile arrest of former president Donald Trump over attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, you’d think that Australian conservatives might be a little more wary of heading down that path – a path that, as Leeser told a party function in Sydney, will likely lead to electoral oblivion. Things may not quite reach the levels of the January 6 insurrection here if the Voice referendum succeeds. But it’s as clear as ever which side of the debate is seeking to divide the nation, ready to stoke anger and outrage no matter the result.
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“It takes a conscious effort to put on a shirt for a cause. You think about which one, strip off your old one and pull it over your head for a purpose. This bloke chose Rio Tinto’s shirt. The company that blew up a 46,000 year old sacred rock shelter for profit.”
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Greens Senator David Shoebridge slams Anthony Albanese’s decision to don a personalised Rio Tinto shirt in Western Australia, as others draw parallels with his predecessor, who wore a near identical Fortescue Metals one.
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“Well, the prime minister made a promise before the election and there’s been no change to our policy … Income tax is just one part of the overall tax and revenue system.”
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Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones repeatedly fails to explain how the Stage Three tax cuts will address the “intergenerational tragedy” of the current system, after the treasurer cited them as evidence the government was responding. It comes as teal MPs call for a wide-ranging tax review.
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7am Podcast
The Voice: How other countries do it
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A Voice to Parliament would be a first for Australia, but it’s not the first of its kind in the world. Norway has had an indigenous-led parliament for more than three decades. Closer to home, New Zealand has a Maori Voice in Parliament, with specially established seats for indigenous MPs.
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The extra annual funding public schools need to meet the standards agreed to under the Gonski reforms, according to a new report. Greens spokesperson Penny Allman-Payne says public schools could be fully funded immediately if private school funding was reduced by a third.
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The Policy
Labor scraps overblown business register project
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The government will scrap a Coalition project to modernise Australia’s business registries, after a review found it would cost five times more than planned. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones told reporters an over-reliance on consultants had contributed to the blowout, adding that “no responsible government could allow this program to continue”.
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