Professor Marcia Langton AO says no Voice to Parliament voters are siding with ‘racism’ or ‘stupidity’

Voice to Parliament no voters are siding with either “racism” or “stupidity”, Professor Marcia Langton told a referendum forum in Bunbury on Sunday. Co-author of the Voice to Parliament, Indigenous scholar Professor Langton made the comments to a 100-strong crowd at the forum hosted by the ECU South West campus. When asked why so many people were undecided, or were inclined to follow “if you don’t know, vote no”, Professor Langton said people needed to dig deeper into the no voters’ arguments. “Every time the no cases raise their arguments, if you start pulling it apart you get down to base racism, I’m sorry to say that’s where it lands, or sheer stupidity,” she said. “If you look at any reputable fact-checker, every one of them says the no case is substantially false, they are lying to you. “I’ve asked the no voters, what would you propose is a better option? What are we to do? Go on as we are with no change? “I’ve not heard any of them come up with a solution that would work themselves.” Professor Langton was joined at the forum by Bunbury MLA Don Punch, filling in for former minister for Indigenous affairs Ken Wyatt who was called away late. With four weeks to go until the vote, Professor Langton believed that undecided voters could still be swayed to vote yes. “What the pollsters are telling me is that there’s 20 per cent of hardcore no voters, and around 30 to 40 per cent are the soft no’s, that’s the undecided,” she said. “In other words, 40 per cent of people are being lied to and are confused.” Professor Langton also told the forum not to fall for claims that Indigenous people did not supporting the referendum, telling the forum that more than 80 per cent of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders support the Voice. “For 50 years there’s been a track record of governments playing political football with us and setting up consultative bodies and then at the next election throwing out all the work that it did, throwing out all the policy advances made and starting with a new bunch of politicians who’ve got different ideas, who set up their own bodies and so on,” she said. “We want this.”