What was claimed
Nyunggai Warren Mundine said “Saying No to a Voice will be to our eternal shame” in early 2023.
Our verdict
False. He was criticising an opinion piece titled “Saying No to a Voice will be to our eternal shame”.
It is being claimed a prominent No vote campaigner said that a failure to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament “will be to our eternal shame”.
This is false. One of Nyunggai Warren Mundine’s social media posts from January 2023 has been manipulated to make it appear as if he supported the Voice.
Mundine was instead criticising an opinion piece in The Australian which was titled “Saying No to a Voice will be to our eternal shame.”
The article was written by La Trobe University Emeritus Professor Judith Brett, who supports the Voice proposal.
The claim is made in a Facebook post (screenshot here), with other posts also claiming the title of the opinion piece is a quote from Mundine, as seen here, here, here, here and here.
The post includes a photo of Mundine, with the title “What or who happened Warren?”
“Saying No to a Voice will be our eternal shame,” it quotes him as saying.
Beneath the quote, it indicates Twitter, now called X, as its source.
However, the post has removed the full contents of his tweet, including the link to the opinion piece, which indicates where the words are from.
His tweet from January 21 stated: “Australia is not a racist country. Stop running down Australians. Saying No to a Voice will be to our eternal shame” with a link to the opinion article.
It also included an image with the words “it’s OK to say no #VoteNo”.
The first instance of the manipulated tweet being shared to social media appears to be this post, which also states: “For those wanting to share @nyunggai‘s words easily…”
A representative for Mundine confirmed to AAP FactCheck the words in question were not from the prominent No campaigner.
“The phrase is clearly the title of an opinion piece he was criticising and nothing more,” the representative said in an email.
It is not the first time Mundine has been the target of misinformation. AAP FactCheck has also debunked a claim that he supported a constitutionally enshrined national Indigenous Voice in 2017.
The Verdict
The claim leading No vote campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine said “saying No to a Voice will be to our eternal shame” is false.
The sentence is the headline from an opinion piece written by academic Judith Brett in The Australian newspaper.
Mundine was instead criticising the article on X, formerly known as Twitter.
False — The claim is inaccurate.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Of course he didn’t support the voice Warren Mundine has never supported anything that benefited anyone other than Warren Mundine since he was in Dubbo. He was a big noting bull artist then. His then wife was too “dark” for him he is alleged to have said. Nice woman that my wife used to work with. My mate on the council of elders is inclined to use phrases suggesting he is not very committed to indigenous people, one of which is related to tropical palm trees and their fruit.
This guy is clearly trying to use “the Voice” as means of proving his hard right credentials, and simply just big-noting himself (a la DJT)
Most of the indigenous No campaigners are doing that just to give themselves notoriety. They don’t care about their people.
Sez someone who knows their thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and motives better than the individuals (maybe check a dictionary for the meaning of that word) themselves.
There are several words for that attitude… arrogant, paternalistic, ignorant etc but let’s just stick with plain old racist.
Why do you bother defending this man. Its not as if he will appreciate it. Given the vast amount of misrepresentation put out by the NO case and then circulated by their supporters this is peanuts.
But he did write this: [my emphases]
“The challenge of the proposal is a national body to represent all Indigenous Australians. As
articulated most strongly by Pearson, the intention of the body is that its inclusion in the
Constitution would confer credibility as a voice. But the establishment of a national body
logically raises questions about how it is configured, what its powers are, who will serve on it,
and who elects them.
Some of these questions can be easily answered. But that does not mean the proposal will be
perceived as benign at the ballot box.
When running a referendum campaign, advocates need to think like their detractors.
The principal criticisms that can easily be directed at such a body are that it will replicate the
failed, abolished (and allegedly corrupt) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission; that
it will amount to a new and separate Indigenous Parliament; and that Indigenous Australians
will have two votes, while every other Australian will only get one.
Each is a distortion on the truth. But that is all it takes.”
— Mundine, Warren. Practical Recognition from the Mobs’ Perspective: Enabling our mobs to speak for country, Uphold & Recognise, 2017.
In fact, his whole essay appears to support constitutional recognition, and a voice.
I wonder what happened between 2017 and 2013. Perhaps his essay should be titled: Mundine, Warren – Recipe for Muddying the Waters. Anyway, he is No to Voice.
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/qatar-decision-hurts-competition-rod-sims-20230830-p5e0i9#:~:text=Mundine%20slams%20Yes%20campaign%2C%20says%20movement%20ignites%20racial%20tension
2017 and 2023
I thought the No camp hated fact checking, so no doubt they’ll complain about this piece