Australians in target states will be shown television advertisements opposing the Indigenous Voice to Parliament this week as the No campaign spends tens of thousands of dollars experimenting with different messages.
Recognise a Better Way president Warren Mundine spoke to Crikey about the campaign’s early fundraising and advertising efforts following reporting of an advertising blitz from both his organisation and fellow No campaign Fair Australia.
Mundine said his organisation hasn’t started fully campaigning yet and expects the contest to kick off after the government passes the Voice to Parliament referendum bill later this year and announces the official referendum date.
Until then, Recognise a Better Way is using this period as a “fake campaign”, Mundine said, and is rolling out a small campaign to test the message. He said the group spent “only $50,000” to run its first television advertisements in Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, as well as in regional NSW and Victoria this week.
“They’re pretty low-key, these things. [The spend] was only probably $50,000. They’re great value for money, it was very cheap,” he said.
The advertisements had received “amazing feedback”, Mundine said, prompting a wave of donations and volunteer applications.
Mundine made an effort to downplay his campaign’s “small” budget, saying that it paled in comparison to the Yes campaign. He said he’s been fundraising (”last night I had a dinner, today I got a lunch. It’s a mixture of business people, some institutions and foundations”) but couldn’t be drawn on any names.
“Much of the money raised so far has been through small donors. Some small businesses and middle-sized businesses. We’d always like to see more donations. The top three subjects in any campaign are money, money, and money,” he said.
Mundine rejected claims that Recognise a Better Way has received donations from mining companies.
“Some people accuse us of getting mining money. We’re not getting any mining money. Not a cent. People have got to realise, Rio Tinto and all of those, they’ve signed up for the Yes campaign,” he said.
Crikey analysis last week found that the Fair Australia No campaign was already running Facebook advertisements targeting WA, Queensland and South Australian voters over the age of 30. Recognise a Better Way has not yet run any social media advertisements and its organic social media presence remains muted.
Mundine promised that his camp will ramp up its campaign in June when he predicts the public will start paying attention.
“In any election campaign or referendum, most Australians don’t switch on until they know the date,” he said.
“Some people accuse us of getting mining money. We’re not getting any mining money. Not a cent.”
Or translated from Mundine-speak:
“We’ve worked out a way to hide it.”
This would match what I know of him from his early days down the road a bit from where I live.
Warren Mundine is using MSM as much as he can to amplify his Voice. Too bad about the many other Indigenous leaders who do not have his connections to the media and the think tanks which get their money from “somewhere”.
The problem with the No case is that it relies on the few very loud voices of privileged Aboriginal people who don’t wish to share the spotlight. They are happy to out yell other Indigenous people who don’t have their privilege whilst happily “quoting” them. As the campaign progresses hopefully we will hear more from those who developed the Uluru statement and less from grifters. .
My thoughts exactly. Interesting to note that Langton’s model proposed term limits for members of the Voice…this among other aspects of the design clearly seems to be an effort to give as many as possible a chance to be heard.
Also a symptom of power and influence in the background inc. media, corporates & think tanks, for the LNP to be used as delivery system to most act negatively, not in the interests of most Australians.
Seems ‘The Voice’ is an issue that can bypass the LNP when using some noisy indigenous political actors in media to insulate those in the shadows, since the LNP are so on the nose.
Related, in the UK it’s noticed how the worst of the Tory govt. policies e.g. anti-immigrant etc. agitprop, is conducted in tabloid and social media, with Asian heritage Ministers central in delivering disgusting anti-humane policies…. all they can do is negative….
I wonder can we hold this moral vacuum up to the light of day. Mundine represents himself and his big noting. He used to be a councillor in Dubbo down the road from me, I remember his narcissism. My wife used to work with his first wife, a nice woman as I recall. My local Blackfella frieds and acquaintances wouldn’t piss on him if was on fire, he sure does not represent them. I have even heard faint whispers about coconuts. The two most outspoken indigenous backers of the No campaign are both odious big noters with absolutely zero record of achieving anything other than divisiveness.
It costs him nothing to advertise, because he releases the Adverts to the Media as a media release and they then report on and run the ads for free’.
Mundine appeared on The Drum during the week when he came across as a thug and a bully and was all over the shop trying to defend his stance.
He also said he runs a mining company and an energy company. This can be verified by checking The Drum on ABC Iview.
Personally I would like to see Mr Mundane prove his claims about backers and non backers, rather take it at face value.
He was appalling on The Drum, hope he never gets to be on again. Talked over people, got stuck into a young woman whom he misunderstood deliberately I felt and was allowed to spend a lot of time telling us how important and terrific he is.
The No case seems to be based on …nothing really, just a platform for wannabes like this bloke.
Yes indeed. His appearance on The Drum was appalling. I switched over twice to the ABC Kids channel – for Bluey and Shaun the Sheep (whereas last night I watched The Drum for the entire program and never thought to change channels).
He is just a blow-hard.
Pleased to hear yesterday that Woodside is backing the YES campaign