A panel discussion on the Indigenous voice to parliament with former prime minister Tony Abbott and journalist Joe Hildebrand was interrupted by a First Nations man who slammed the discussions.
The panel discussion hosted Liberal Hughes MP Jenny Ware, which was streamed live on her social media page, the discussion was ending before an audience member called for wider perspectives from Indigenous communities.
“Can we please hear from First Nations person before we go?”, Ware then tells the woman that there is “simply no time”.
Ware then moved on to her concluding remarks when an unknown First Nations man makes his way to the stage and introduces himself as a Dhungutti and Gumbaynggirr man from NSW’s mid-north coast.
“I come from an era where there was discrimination, I come from an era where I was told I was told I was too dark. These are the words you all want to think; colonisation, constitution, law, policies, Stolen Generations, they are system words and those words have been detrimental to Aboriginal people from day one.
The man tells Abbott and Hildebrand that while he “respects them” they are talking about “system words” and that the Howard government dismantled the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission which was the “voice” of Indigenous people.
“You’re up here Tony [Abbott], Joe [Hildebrand] talking about the constitution. That’s a system word! And it’s been detrimental to people.”
“…Tony you were a minister in the Howard government and the Howard government abolished Atsic. That was our voice” he said.
A man from the crowd interjects and is told “listen old man, I have the stage not you,” before the interjections, many in favour of what the man was saying gets louder. He tells the crowd “the truth hurts” to clapping and applause from the audience, before Ware moves to wrap up the event and the live stream is cut off.
Abbott said he went to speak to the man after the forum and “had a good discussion”.
“I can understand he wanted to have his say, and I’m glad we were able to shake hands and have a constructive and cordial discussion afterwards,” he said.
Ware has been contacted for comment.
The Hughes MP does not agree with the wording of the referendum question put forward by the government, but has said she will “consult widely” with her electorate before voting on the legislation which will set the question in stone.
The community forum was advertised to go for about two hours, with Hildebrand and Abbott given 10 minutes each to speak, before the floor was opened up to questions. The live stream on Ware’s facebook page runs for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Ware has also set up a survey which she has invited her constituents to fill in and submit to her, but the questions do not include context and in some cases are misrepresentations of the Voice’s power.
Ware repeats the debunked “this could mean that the Voice could have influence on matters stretching from submarines to parking tickets”.
Hildebrand, in his role as ‘yes’ advocate, spent time in the forum explaining the parliament maintained ultimate control over any legislation and the Voice was an advisory role.
“The parliament can do whatever it wants, I don’t know why this is so difficult for people to get their heads around,” he said.
“The parliament can do absolutely anything. It has supreme authority over the Voice and anything it does do, it can then undo and then the people can change the parliament. So there is almost a limitless amount of checks and balances on it, because the parliament can always reverse anything it has done.”
It is shortly after that someone asks to hear from a First Nations person.
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