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.
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