KEY POINTSMarcia Langton will seek legal advice over a post on Peter Dutton’s Instagram page.The post claims Langton branded No voters “racist” and “stupid”.Langton said the claim was “absolutely not true”.
Indigenous Voice to Parliament Yes campaigner Marcia Langton will seek legal advice if Peter Dutton refuses to take down an Instagram post, accusing her of branding No voters “racist” and “stupid”.
Langton made the comments hours before video emerged, showing the longtime Indigenous rights advocate accusing Dutton of advocating for a “hard no” wing which was “spewing racism”.
On Tuesday, the Opposition leader uploaded an image showing Langton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, alongside the words: “No Voters Branded ‘Racist, Stupid’ By Prominent Voice Campaigner Marcia Langton”.
But speaking to ABC radio on Wednesday, Langton accused Dutton of deliberately misleading voters and left the door open for legal action if the post remains live.
“I will have to … ask a lawyer to write to Peter Dutton requesting that he remove this post from his Instagram because it is absolutely not true,” she said.
No campaign using fear: Langton
The furore began after comments Langton made in Western Australia on Sunday were made public.
“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,” Langton 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.”
The Coalition seized on the comments, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley telling parliament Langton had accused No voters as a whole of racism.
On Wednesday, Langton flatly rejected the suggestion as “absolutely untrue”, but insisted some claims made by No campaigners – including that Indigenous people would receive compensation after a Yes vote – were racist.
“I don’t believe that most Australians are racist. And I’m certainly not racist. What I was saying was that the claims made by the No campaign are based in racism and stupidity and that is a completely different kind of statement altogether,” she said.
“I was explaining how the No campaign is using fear and lies to frighten voters into voting No … it is the No campaign that is promoting division on the basis of race.”
Separate video emerges
In a separate video, first reported on by Sky News on Wednesday, Langton said “ordinary Australians”, who she estimated accounted for 48 per cent of voters, were leaning towards Yes.
She said a “surge of racist nonsense” was confined to what she described as “hard no” voters, who she hoped made up 20 to 30 per cent of the voting public.
“They are the ones spewing racism,” she said in July.
Langton also singled out Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud, who she said were advocating the “hard no” case.
“Their arguments are specious and increasingly absurd, appealing to their racist base with claims that the proposal will racially divide the nation,” she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ley told reporters that Langton was not talking about the tactics used by No campaigners, but was discussing the “heart” of No voters’ beliefs.
The deputy Liberal leader, who earlier called for Langton to be removed from the government’s referendum working group, described the comments as “insulting … out of order and un-Australian”.
“She’s talking in her own words, about racism and stupidity being at the heart of the No campaign. Her defence seems to be that she is not saying that people who vote No are racist or stupid, she’s saying that the arguments they use are racist and stupid,” she said.
“That simply doesn’t cut it.”
The image posted on Tuesday to Dutton’s Instagram account included comments attributed to the leader.
“Australians are genuinely concerned about the unknown consequences of Labor’s risky Voice proposal, which is the biggest constitutional change in our history,” the post said.
“The prime minister should condemn these comments from leading voice advocate Marcia Langton.”
Question time devolves
Parliamentary Question Time on Tuesday was littered by accusations of dishonesty, after the Coalition claimed Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney had suggested the Voice could override government policy.
Coalition MP Phillip Thompson also claimed Albanese had not read the entirety of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which the Opposition
.
“I have read the Uluru Statement from the Heart in Full. It’s on the wall in my office, and here it is,” he said, waving the single page.
Albanese accused the No campaign of shameful tactics, after revelations its volunteers had been directed to use fear to dissuade voters from voting Yes.
“It is as cynical and as shameful as you’d expect,” he told parliament.
– Additional reporting by AAP.
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