On election night, a triumphant Anthony Albanese declared Labor was committed to the Uluru statement from the Heart “in full”, thereby including establishing an Indigenous Voice.
Albanese had partly won the election by pledging to bring Australians together to build a better, more equal Australia. In doing so, he managed to sidestep Scott Morrison’s right-wing populist arguments that the Liberals would protect the Australian people, “us” against “them”: namely, elitist Labor big government and the minority groups Labor would support.
However, the Voice outcome has revealed Labor’s strategy for sidestepping right-wing populism to be in disarray. The “no” case argued Labor supported division by trying to impose an elitist, big government “Canberra Voice” on the Australian people. Worst of all, the “no” case claimed to be championing equality while Labor was depicted as supporting special rights for a minority of the Australian people.
