The Victorian opposition leader, John Pesutto, says he will speak to Liberal MP Bev McArthur about how to respectfully debate issues after she made “hurtful” comments suggesting Indigenous people should be grateful for the “wonderful things” enabled by colonisation.
Pesutto said he did not know what drove McArthur to write the statement – which was not distributed by the Coalition’s media team – but that she would be spoken to.
“I do not accept that as a fair statement, I think it is hurtful to Indigenous Victorians,” he told reporters outside parliament on Tuesday.
“It’s incumbent on everyone to engage in debates about Indigenous Australians and the great contribution our First Nations people have made [to] our country in a very respectful way. There are ways to conduct this debate without causing hurt or offence.”
He would not say whether McArthur would be formally sanctioned for the comments, contained in a statement posted on her website after the Geelong city council last week voted to stop recognising 26 January as Australia Day.
In the statement, McArthur had said there were “wonderful things that have been enabled via colonisation by a democratic country” such as hospitals, running water and electricity.
“There is one word that is rarely heard in this discussion, and it is a simple word. Thank you. Maybe that word should be heard loudly on Australia Day,” she wrote.
McArthur’s comments were also rebuked by Marcus Stewart, a co-chair of Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly, who said the consequences of colonialism are still being felt through the high rates of Indigenous incarceration and child removal.
Pesutto, who took on the Liberal leadership in December after its election loss, has been struggling to bring his party back to the centre after years of factional infighting between socially liberal and conservative MPs.
McArthur is considered a key member of the conservative faction and voted against Pesutto earlier this month when another MP, Moira Deeming, was expelled from the party room.
She intends to campaign for the no campaign on the Indigenous voice to parliament, after the party room voted in favour of a “non-binding position” ahead of the referendum.
Pesutto said he was yet to decide how he would vote in the referendum, which will be held between October and December. He previously said he was waiting for a parliamentary report on the voice before making up his mind.
“I’m still working through it, as my priorities are Victorian issues,” he said.
“I know this is a very important national issue. I understand the symbolic importance [of] this issue. That, however, has to be balanced against the responsibilities I [have], as Victoria’s alternative premier,” he said on Tuesday.
In question time, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, and the minister for Aboriginal affairs, Gabrielle Williams, spruiked the government’s investment in First Nations peoples, as well as their support for the Voice.
“We all know that in health, in education, in early years and in very area of public policy, if we engage with Aboriginal people and listen to them, then we get much better outcomes, not just for Aboriginal people but for all of us,” Andrews said.
“That is why the voice is so important. That is why I will be voting yes, and I hope all honourable members will do the same.”
