Prominent Indigenous advocate Warren Mundine has branded corporate support for the Voice to Parliament a “national disgrace,” after incoming Qantas chair John Mullen conceded businesses did themselves a “disservice” by backing the proposal.
Qantas drew significant public criticism when it announced its backing for the controversial Indigenous body, with the airline beset by a number of scandals around the time campaigning for the Voice referendum began.
Other corporate bodies also joined the Yes campaign, sparking accusations of tokenism from some Voice opponents who argued business should remain independent of social issues.
Now, months after the Voice referendum was rejected, Qantas’ new chair has become one of the only business leaders to concede corporate Australia may have made a mistake in how it handled the campaign.
Speaking to The Australian on Thursday, Mr Mullen, who will take over the reins at the airline in July, admitted backing the Yes campaign “backfired” on big business by creating the impression it was acting “high and mighty.”
“The way that corporate Australia went about supporting it was detrimental to the image of corporate Australia in the eyes of many people,” he said.
“In retrospect, the broader business community was seen by a lot of people in Australia as high and mighty and telling us what we should do.”
While Mr Mullen maintained corporations could not remain completely isolated from social causes, he added the manner of big businesses’ support for the Voice had done them “a bit of a disservice.”
That admission was praised by Mr Mundine, who told Skynews.com.au he would “like to have a cup of tea and chat” with the incoming Qantas chair before delivering a scathing assessment of how corporates had conducted themselves during campaigning for the referendum.
“Corporate Australia during the Voice was a complete national disgrace,” he declared.
“They looked down their noses at us just because we didn’t support it. They sat there and supported disgusting conduct, we had poll workers, people at booths spat on, abused.
“Those corporates need to do some long, hard soul searching because right now I can tell you their soul is a deep, dark black.”
Following the Voice’s defeat, Indigenous advocates have continued to push for changes to improve outcomes in some of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities.
The Albanese government has also vowed to continue working on measures that will better the lives of First Nations people, including a recent inquiry into the Native Title Act.
However, Mr Mundine was critical of the government and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus for failing to pursue practical policies in housing, education and bringing down crime, arguing current plans were merely a repeat of the “past 50 years.”
“Anthony Albanese and Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney have been disgraceful,” he claimed.
“It’s same old, same old, doing what people have been doing for the past 50 years: just throwing money at the problem.
“Mark Dreyfus has been around long enough to know what the problems are, this review is just another typical Labor exercise.”
Mr Mundine’s criticism was not reserved solely for the federal government, though, as he also called out state Liberal leaders for backing Treaty proposals and other, similar plans.
“Stop being Labor lite, forget about Treaty” he said.
“Do the hard work in education and get the parents of Indigenous kids into jobs, that’s how you help fix this.”