Former senator and Olympic athlete Nova Peris knocked back claims pushed by the No campaign as she made an emotional plea weeks out from the Voice to Parliament referendum day.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and shadow affairs minister Jacinta Price have repeatedly spruiked commentary that there is not enough detail surrounding the Voice.
The No campaign also included the phrase “if you don’t know, vote no” in its official pamphlet.
Ms Peris told Sky News Australia that notion would only make voters ignorant, insisting insisted “there is enough information out there”.
“I was part of the republican referendum, way back in ’98 and ’99, and too many people just got bogged down with the detail of all of this,” she said on Wednesday.
“I don’t think people are realising the significance of this once in a lifetime [referendum].
“All we are asking for is to be seen, for us to be placed in the nation’s birth certificate as First Australians, and secondly to is to allow us a Voice, an advisory committee, to be able to give advice on policies that affect us.”
Ms Peris said voters are being asked to “open their hearts” to the principle of a Voice, rather than be fixated on the level of detail.
“We know that the constitution is a mechanism for a number of policies that come from it,” she said.
“For example, the provision for defence. There are only three lines in the constitution that says ‘we shall have a defence’ but it doesn’t say how we choose to defend the country.
“What we do know is that the parliament will actually design the Voice itself.”
Ms Peris, who was the first Aboriginal person to win a gold medal at the Olympics, became emotional when questioned on what losing the referendum would mean for her.
“I think it would be a really sad indictment for us as Australians if we can’t go to the polls and wake up on October the 15th without all of us uniting as one and acknowledging 235 years plus the 65,000 years which make us whole as a continent,” she said.
“We are the first Australians, please give us our place in our rightful place. We don’t come from anywhere else.
“To deny us is to deny the world around you.”
Ms Peris then revealed she has experienced online abuse from No campaigners, adding it was “disappointing” to see the reaction to Marcia Langton’s commentary.
“I think there are a component of Australians that we are never going to change their mind and I feel there is a huge dislike for Aboriginal people so it’s hard to convince them,” she said.
“I’ve had to turn my commentary off on my Facebook and also on my Twitter, because there are ugly commentary coming through and they’re vile and their racial hatred is aimed at me and being an Aboriginal person.”
Australia is weeks out from the referendum on October 14, when voters will decide on enshrining an independent advisory body into the constitution.
The body, comprised of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, will advise the government and executive on matters and policies impacting them and it will be up to the parliament and government to take, or not take, that advice.
Details on the upcoming referendum can be found here.
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