Yes campaigners have declared a ‘week of mourning’ as they reacted with tears, blame and fury as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament was rejected by the majority of Australians.
Every state in Australia returned a resounding No result on Saturday night, prompting a group of Indigenous leaders to issue a statement announcing a week of silence, flags to be flown at half-mast and the brutal comment: ‘We now know where we stand in … our own country’.
Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin and Uluru statement signatory Thomas Mayo both delivered scathing speeches slamming the ‘lies’ of No campaign leaders at an event in Western Sydney.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney fought back tears as they conceded defeat in Canberra.
Meanwhile, Yes advocate Professor Marcia Langton and No campaigner Warren Mundine butted heads in fiery appearances on a televised discussion panel for NITV’s The Point.
Yes23 Campaign director Dean Parkin looked deflated as he called the No campaign one of the ‘biggest misinformation campaigns in Australia’s history’
Yes volunteers broke down crying as the as the results rolled in (pictured, scenes at a Sydney Yes23 event)
Tears in the crowd during Mr Parkin’s speech at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club as it became clear the referendum had no chance of being voted in
About 9.30pm a furious two-page statement was shared on social media by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the Central Land Council vowing to take part a week of silence, including a media blackout, from Sunday.
Both the Yes23 and Uluru Dialogue groups said they endorsed the statement.
It read the week will be used to ‘grieve this outcome and reflect on its meaning and significance’.
‘We will be lowering our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to half-mast for the week of silence to acknowledge this result. We ask others to do the same,’ the group said.
The group said they would need to ‘regather strength and resolve’, to look toward the future and consider a new path forward.
‘To our people we say: do not shed tears. This rejection was never for others to issue.
‘The truth is that we offered this recognition and it has been refused. We now know where we stand in this our own country. Always was. Always will be.’
The group said the reasons for this ‘tragic outcome’ will be ‘dissected in the weeks, years and decades to come’.
‘Much will be asked about the role of racism and prejudice against Indigenous people in this result. The only thing we ask is that each and every Australian who voted in this election reflect hard on this question.’
The Yes camp was hoping for a shock win in the referendum even on Saturday morning
A yes supporter looks on at the Inner West For Yes2023 Official Referendum Function at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club in Sydney
No campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine told SBS’s The Point the No camp would not be celebrating but ‘the Australian public have told us what they want, they don’t want a Voice.’
‘They want the government and other people to get out there and actually do the job that needs to be done. We need to look at the billions of dollars that have been spent, and not got the outcomes that we need.’
‘We need to do a performance audit of this,’ the Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr, and Yuin man said.
Indigenous advocate Marcia Langton fired back on the same program and declared ‘Reconciliation is dead’.
High profile Voice campaigner Professor Marcia Langton declared ‘reconciliation is dead’ after the vote
Two of the No campaign leaders Jacinta Price and Warren Mundine were overjoyed on Saturday night and insisted the No win was a vote for unity
The Yiman and Bidjara woman was member of the referendum working group and said Reconciliation had been continually ‘kicked down the road.’
‘I think the No campaigners have a lot to answer for in poisoning Australia against this proposition and against Indigenous Australia.’
‘They say they’re not celebrating, but let’s see how they wheel themselves out in the future. Because this has been a cynical political exercise by the Coalition … They’ll now be pressing hard for policies that cause us harm.’
Tireless Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo said he was personally ‘devastated’ at the result but does not blame voters, but rather politicians.
‘We need a Voice. We need that structural change and we got it right at Uluru,’ Mr Mayo said.
‘But we have seen a disgusting No campaign, a campaign that has been dishonest, that has lied to the Australian people and I’m sure that will come out in the analysis.
‘I’m sure that history will reflect poorly on Peter Dutton, Pauline Hanson, all of those that have opposed this, and so, you know, I don’t know what’s next, but it’s just devastating.’
Indigenous Voice campaigner Thomas Mayo has blasted the No campaign as ‘disgusting’
Asked if he was angry, Mr Mayo said he was – but not at the Australian people.
‘I am not angry at the Australian public.
‘I think that the Australian public were ready for this. I disagree when people say that they weren’t. I disagree that this was a bad idea.
‘I know that we needed that foundational change to be recognised. And to have a guaranteed representative body and people that speak for us like the one that we have just heard and not having political parties choose for us. But having us choose our leaders ourselves.’
‘We got that right and I am not blaming the Australian people at all.
‘But who I do blame and who I hope that the Australian people look very closely at the next time they have a say in this democracy about who our leadership is, I hope they look at who lied to the Australian people.’
Yes supporters hug at the Inner West For Yes2023 Official Referendum Function at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club on October 14 as Australia delivered a No result on the referendum
Every state has voted down the Indigenous Voice to Parliament by a clear margin
Mr Mayo called Mr Albanese’s decision to seek the referendum ‘courageous’ and said ‘it’s not his fault’ the the Yes vote lost.
He placed blame squarely at the feet of No activists.
‘It’s the people that have lied to us, to the Australian people, they are the Australian ones that we should be blaming,’ he claimed.
‘It’s been disgusting from the No campaign to be frank.’
At the same event, Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin slammed the ‘single largest misinformation campaign the country has ever seen’ during a speech to devastated supporters at an event in Sydney.
The group hoped they’d be enjoying a celebratory evening; instead, a deflated Parkin told them that they did ‘all they could’ to get the vote over the line.
Parkin said to No voters: ‘We did all we could to alleviate doubts (about the Voice).
‘We did all we could to ensure the proposal was strong. We believe that the proposal was strong. We believe the proposal remains strong.
‘In spite of their belief in the campaign, Parkin said the Yes camp could not compete with ‘the single largest misinformation campaign this country has ever seen’, slamming the ‘disrespect and disdain’ which had been shown to Indigenous people.
Mr Parkin said the No campaign was the ‘biggest misinformation campaign the country has seen’
In Canberra, a visibly emotional Anthony Albanese called for unity.
Nearly two hours after the vote was called for No, the Prime Minister said he accepted the outcome, and took ‘responsibility’ for the decision to hold the referendum.
‘While tonight’s result is not one that I had hoped for, I absolutely respect the decision of the Australian people and the democratic process that has delivered it, he said.
‘When we reflect on everything happening in the world today, we can all give thanks that here in Australia we make the big decisions peacefully and as equals, with one vote, one value.’
He conceded at no point could he have ‘guaranteed the referendum would succeed’.
‘What I could promise was that we would go all in, that we would try, and we have,’ he said.
Speaking in Canberra on Saturday night nearly two hours after the vote was called for No, the Prime Minister said he took ‘responsibility’ for the outcome
Emotions run high for Yes campaigners seen consoling each other after the result was revealed
‘Of course, when you do the hard things, when you aim high, sometimes you fall short. And tonight we acknowledge, understand and respect that we have.’
Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said it was a ‘day of sadness’.
‘This result is not what we hoped for. The Australian people have had their say, and a clear majority have voted against the proposed change to the constitution,’ she said.
‘We, of course, except the decision of the Australian people.’
She also thanked the Prime Minister, her parliamentary colleagues and those who worked on the Yes23 campaign, and said it was not the end of reconciliation.
‘I know this outcome will be hard for some, but achieving progress is never easy, and progress doesn’t always move in a straight line,’ she said.
‘There are breakthroughs and heartbreaks, but I am confident that because of this campaign and the millions of conversations it has sparked, the renewed generation of Indigenous leaders will emerge.’
Linda Burney said she believes the referendum even though defeated would spark a new generation of Indigenous leaders
Senator Burney said she would have ‘more to say’ in the months ahead about the government’s ‘renewed commitment’ to close the gap.
Voters in her own electorate are among those who appear to have voted majority No.
The Labor MP’s inner-Sydney seat of Barton had a progressive 56 per cent ‘No’ vote two hours after polls closed on Saturday.
The referendum asked Australians whether they wanted to recognise First Nations people into the constitution by enshrining a non-binding advisory body that could make representations to the government and parliament.
The No camp had claimed the advisory body would ‘re-racialise’ the country by making a distinction based on race in the country’s foundational declaration.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com