The man who won't listen

The most telling moment of the Voice debate took place this week in Alice Springs when Peter Dutton finished ranting about non-white crime waves — one of his long-standing passion topics, attacking the Voice, and dog whistling to right-wing white men.

After a string of softballs from the media pack, an admirable journalist, Lee Robinson, told Dutton that the local traditional owners and Central Land Council support the Voice and the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Why, the journalist asked, had Dutton not met with the groups during his multiple trips to Alice Springs?

Dutton's answer was revealing. “I'll let those groups speak for themselves,” he said, and went on to describe what untraceable shopping centre patrons had supposedly told him. He didn't explain why he hadn't met with local Aboriginal leaders. He was focused on people who shared his views.

This was where Dutton's Voice position broke down completely. Local Aboriginal leaders — democratically elected by their communities — were disappointed that Dutton had not met with them and heard why the Voice and the Uluru Statement from the Heart are so important to their communities. Further, Dutton didn't commit to meeting with them while he was in Alice Springs this time.

Dutton hadn't been listening and he wasn't going to start now. They could speak for themselves, he said. He made it clear that he wouldn't be listening.

This was a self-destroying stance from the Opposition Leader who had announced just seven days earlier that he wanted regional Voices to be created instead of a central Voice. Regional Voices, Dutton said, could communicate truths from the ground in a way that a central Voice could not.

But here were democratically elected regional voices begging to be listened to. Dutton refused their requests.

It's worth explaining who Dutton was snubbing. The Central Land Council is 90 democratically-elected Aboriginal people from central Australia. They cover 770,000km² and speak 15 languages. Their territory includes Alice Springs. They have been elected by their communities ‘to represent them and fight for their rights'.

They also endorse the Uluru Statement from the Heart and want the Voice in full:

All four Land Councils in the Northern Territory endorse the Uluru Statement and want the Voice. So do democratically elected Land Councils all over Australia. Grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations do too. Polls show 80 per cent of Indigenous people support the Voice proposal. This is who Dutton opposes.

What good are regional Voices if the leader of the Coalition is already refusing to meet with them?

Instead of engagement, Dutton has chosen to act in supremely bad faith and smear the lengthy, nationwide Uluru Statement and Voice processes as inventions of 'Canberra elites'. In fact they were created, led and agreed to by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from all over Australia.

Another Dutton slur, that it's Anthony Albanese's Voice and he changed the referendum wording, is equally false. The First Nations Referendum Working Group — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from across Australia — are responsible for the Voice and the wording. Journalists must learn these facts and correct the opposition leader every time he gaslights the public.

Here are the facts:

Dutton is the leader of the federal opposition, a 22-year-Federal MP, due to receive a lifetime parliamentary pension of over $140,000 per year from 2026, he sold his beach house for $6 million, and is proud to be a multi-millionaire. He refuses to listen to the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal people and their elected leaders who strongly support the Voice and the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

What does that make him?

The only elitist in view.