“His early bed-wetting,just when we’re yet to start the campaign proper,is not right. He does not represent Indigenous people in the position he’s taken,” Pearson said,referring to the Indigenous leader as “little Micky Gooda”.
Gooda is leading the Queensland treaty process and ran the high-profile 2016 royal commission into the NT youth justice system. He was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
“Mick’s problem is that he thinks he can’t separate compromise from capitulation. He thinks capitulation is compromise,” Pearson said.
Asked by ABC host Patricia Karvelas if he was playing the man not the ball,Pearson said:“When the man’s holding the ball in the way he is,well,you’ve got to tackle him.”
Gooda responded to Pearson by calling for civility,saying:“We,the Yes side,have to win over people with logical,precise arguments that win the hearts and minds.
“I’ve disagreed with some things Noel has said and done in the past. But I know in my heart of hearts that he fights for what he thinks is best for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I wish he would afford others the same courtesy when they disagree with him.
“But personal abuse is not the approach to take because I won’t be bullied into conforming with his position and the Australian public won’t be bullied into voting yes in this referendum.”
Pearson also criticised Liberal MP Julian Leeser,who will next week use parliament to try to change the constitutional wording. Leeser said he had been speaking with both Pearson and Gooda recently,and also wanted to give the referendum the best chance of success.
“I am arguing[to keep executive government out of the Constitution] so that it makes it easier for more voters to vote yes because we have removed the central argument of the no campaign,” Leeser said.
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One of the leaders of the new Liberal referendum grouping,Coalition frontbencher Jonno Duniam,said the Voice would create a break from the liberal principle of equality before the law and argued Voice proponents could not explain the amendment’s practical benefit.
“From my point of view,as politicians,we’re in the business of solving problems and the whole thing at the base of this debate is making lives better for Australians in need of support,” he said. “What is it that we are doing this for?”
Key Voice proponent Megan Davis,commenting on Gooda’s recommendations,said research showed Australians wanted the Voice to be powerful.
“Otherwise,what’s the point? People want change,not the status quo,” she said on Twitter.
“Our mob are always expected to tolerate street fighting rules when it comes to us and politics,” she said of Pearson’s comments. “But when we push back,in a political contest,in comes the civility brigade.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.