Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has accused the 'no' campaign of using tactics pioneered by former US president Donald Trump to divide this nation over the voice referendum.
During an emotional address at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Ms Burney, a Wiradjuri woman, outlined why she believes a voice will make practical differences to the lives of Indigenous people and why constitutional recognition is unfinished business.
Ms Burney said she would not apologise for doing everything in her power to combat misinformation and disinformation during the campaign in the lead-up to the vote, which will be held later this year.
"The organisation running the 'no' campaign, Fair Australia, is importing Trump-style politics to Australia," she said.
"It is post-truth and its aim is to polarise, to sow division in our society by making false claims including that providing advice to government would somehow impact the fundamental democratic principle of one vote, one value - a claim designed to mislead."
Ms Burney detailed how she is frequently a target of online trolls and called out One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson for racist views about Aboriginal identity.
"Last month Pauline Hanson was on radio and said she had met a 'true Black' - what she is saying is that some Indigenous people are less deserving of our identity - to say that is an insult is an understatement," she said.
"Do not let the 'no' campaign get away with using Trump-style politics in Australia.
"Do not let them divide us."
Earlier in the day in Adelaide Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Ms Burney of dishonesty, saying she needed to stop her "continuous misleading of the Australian public".
He also said that corporations had no place in the referendum debate, but Ms Burney disputed that.
"The business community supports the voice because they know it is about employment, it is about making sure that people stay in jobs in their businesses," she said.
"And I don't think the business community is very impressed with Peter Dutton's bully-boy tactics."
The voice will be a policy development partnership with government on Indigenous issues, meaning both parties will set the agenda, according to Ms Burney.
She said if the referendum got up she would ask the voice for advice on policy, including the four key sectors of health, education, jobs and housing.
"From day one the voice will have a full in-tray," she said.
"The voice will be tasked with taking the long view."
Ms Burney gave several examples of how the voice could have practical positive results on the stark health statistics for Indigenous children, who are 55 times more likely to die from rheumatic heart disease than non-Indigenous people.
"These deaths are completely preventable with access to medical care, proper housing and running water," she said.
Ms Burney said she wanted voters to think about people such as her friend Michael Riley.
Mr Riley grew up in Dubbo in the 1960s and lived on the Talbragar Aboriginal Reserve, one of the many missions around the country where Aboriginal people were forced to live in often overcrowded conditions, with little or no access to healthcare or basic services.
He contracted rheumatic fever, a serious but preventable illness that if left untreated can lead to rheumatic heart disease and death.
Mr Riley became a renowned photographer but died aged 44.
"I visited him every day in hospital," Ms Burney said.
"I watched him go blind in one eye.
"His Aboriginality condemned him to an early death - a preventable death."
Polls have shown support for the 'yes' vote slipping, but Ms Burney said Australia needed new perspectives to solve old challenges.
"For too long governments have made polices for Indigenous Australians, not with Indigenous Australians," she said.
"We need the voice to change that ... because the voice will be a mechanism for government and parliament to listen."
The referendum's success depends on a double majority, more than 50 per cent support across the country and in a majority of the Australian states.
