Gina Rinehart and a tale of two referendum night events

For months,No campaigners framed supporters of an Indigenous Voice to parliament as out of touch elites imposing their thought bubbles on middle Australia.

The narrative couldn’t have been further from the two campaigns’ referendum events on Saturday night.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine was a leading figure in the No campaign.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine was a leading figure in the No campaign.Dan Peled

As the results flooded in,supporters of the No case gathered at Brisbane’s Hyatt Regency for a tightly stage-managed affair. The gathered media were kept away from the drinks and canapes on offer,on a separate level from where the campaign and its guests were gathered.

We tried to ask leading No figure Nyunggai Warren Mundinewhy journos couldn’t get a look in on all the fun (as we always can for a normal election) but he never returned our calls.

Clearly,the media were never meant to notice a cameo from Australia’s richest personGina Rinehart.

She just happened to show up while journalists were at a press conference fronted by leading No campaignersJacinta Nampijinpa Priceand Opposition LeaderPeter Duttonheld over an hour after the result was known.

Gina Rinehart appeared at the No campaign’s victory party.

Gina Rinehart appeared at the No campaign’s victory party.Trevor Collens

CBD was reminded of the time we encountered Rinehart surreptitiously ducking out of Parliament Houselast year after Price’s maiden speech,the billionaire gushing with praise for the new senator. The love-in continues.

Meanwhile,there was barely an elite in sight at the Yes campaign’s wake,held among the pokie rooms of the Wests Ashfield Leagues Club on Saturday night,one of the least salubrious corners of Sydney’s inner west.

It was,as CBD hinted last week,a quiet,low-key affair,with a crowd of mostly local volunteers.

That Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese and Minister for Indigenous AustraliansLinda Burney addressed media from the so-called Blue Room in Parliament House was also a telling concession of where the Voice was headed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the referendum result "will not define us" and "will not divide us" in an address to the nation.

Standing beside Yes23 directorDean Parkin as he arrived to deliver a tear-stained speech on Saturday night was the CT Group co-founder,pollsterMark Textor. For years,the firm Textor co-founded with SirLynton Crosby became synonymous with electoral necromancy in the service of conservative victories.

This time,CT Group has been deeply entwined with the Yes campaign,leading us to speculate whether its decades-long association with the Liberal Party will be strained at the next federal election.

UNDER EVEREST

Last week,Racing NSW bossPeter “Showbags” V’landystold CBD Saturday’s Everest race would be a good omen for the Voice to parliament,after a horse called Yes Yes Yes was successful in 2019.

We doubt V’landys was bothered about getting that one wrong,what with Sydney putting on a show of springtime glory for the big race day,and drawing a cast of movers,shakers and has-beens to Royal Randwick.

CBD’s informants spotted entrepreneurGerry Harveyand larrikin racing headJohn Singleton inside the Queen Elizabeth II ballroom. Singo’s promise to buy 40,000 drinks for the punters at the public bar was all for nought,as Hawaii Five Oh,the horse he co-owns with Harvey and shock-jockRay Hadley,fell well short.

Plenty of formers also worked the room,including former governor-generalPeter Cosgrove,former health ministerBrad Hazzard,and former deputy premierPaul Toole.

V’landys’ pitch to make the $20 million Everest,a rival with potential to usurp the old-timey Melbourne Cup,has always made racing authorities in the southern state smart.

Punters at The Everest at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Punters at The Everest at Royal Randwick on Saturday.Dion Giorgopolous

But despite V’landys’ repeated barbs at the Victoria Racing Club (VRC),its chairNeil Wilson and chief executiveSteve Rosich both tuned up for cup week at Flemington by checking out the opposition from TAB’s marquee on Saturday.

The tent also played host to Racing MinisterDavid Harris,and his predecessorKevin Anderson. Puntaholic Sydney Swans forwardTom Papley,fresh from ruffling feathers with his new betting podcast,also made an appearance,as did former Souths starSam Burgess,who’s about to depart these shores for a new coaching gig with Warrington in the UK Super League.

MATE AGAINST MATE

Queensland PremierAnnastacia Palaszczuk spent the night before the referendum installed in the front row of the mezzanine at the Tivoli in Brisbane for a sweaty rock show by Sydney Gen X faves The Whitlams.

She took in good humour a gentle ribbing about Brisbane from frontman and Labor lovey Tim Freedman,who joked that when the southern states heard the Queensland capital was to host the Olympics,we thought:“Where’s next,Dubbo?”

Freedman’s acknowledgment of the premier was met mostly with indifference by the Brisbane crowd. That polling could be worse than we feared.

He went on:“I better lose that bit about how before Expo ’88 there were only two restaurants here,and you could only buy one type of drug,and that was speed.”

They then played Year of the Rat,a lament of how Sydney was strangled by rules and bureaucracy after the 2000 Olympics. It’s only gotten worse since. Queensland,be warned. Palaszczuk stayed until the second encore.

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Kishor Napier-Raman is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a reporter for Crikey,covering federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery.

David is a crime and justice reporter at The Age.

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