Andrew Bolt’s scathing response to Ray Martin’s criticism of the No campaign and advocacy for Australians to vote Yes

Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has denounced the selection of Ray Martin for a prime-time televised debate on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, describing him as a “white-faced” hand-picked “Aboriginal”.

Martin sparked controversy after giving a speech at a Yes campaign event in Sydney. During his speech, he criticized the No campaign’s slogan, “If you don’t know, vote no,” calling it nonsense.

“What this stupid slogan says is that if you’re a dinosaur or an asshole who doesn’t want to read, then vote no,” he said.

Bolt expressed disdain that Martin attended Sunday night’s Channel Seven forum as an Indigenous representative.

The Daily Mail has confirmed that Yes23 had indeed proposed Ray Martin after Australian Indigenous Minister Linda Burney refused to appear on the show.

Other Indigenous spokespersons representing different sides of the Voice debate were Senators Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (LNP), Lidia Thorpe (Independent) and Malarndirri McCarthy (Labour).

While Bolt admitted that the senators all had relatively recent Indigenous ancestry, he said that was not the case for Martin, despite having been officially chosen as the Indigenous representative for the Yes23 campaign.

“Why did Channel 7 add Martin, a white-faced retired TV presenter from decades ago?” Bolt wrote in Sunday’s paper Herald Sun column.

Bolt questioned whether the veteran journalist and television presenter should be considered Aboriginal when Martin’s ancestry was almost entirely Irish, with the exception of an Aboriginal great-great-grandmother, Bertha.

“To be fair, Martin doesn’t identify as Aboriginal, but his single Aboriginal great-great-grandparent was important enough for Channel 7 to cast him as an ‘Aboriginal man’,” Bolt wrote.

Noting the show producer’s stated intention that he did not want “white people to speak for” indigenous people, Bolt questioned whether Martin was “really indigenous in any meaningful way?” »

This issue led Bolt to question the validity of the Indigenous Voice in Parliament.

“Only one of his 16 great-great-grandparents was Aboriginal, so why does this one define Martin more than the other 15? » » asked Bolt.

“Why does this great-great-grandparent favor him in a debate, or qualify him to be represented by one vote in Parliament in the Constitution – unlike anyone of any other “race”?

“What an insult to our individuality to assign people to a victim race because of a single ancestor 150 years ago or even more.”

Looking at the illustrious panel that included three senators-elect and a famous television personality, Bolt also wondered if indigenous peoples don’t already have a “voice.”

“Millions and millions of other Australians will never have as strong a voice as any of these Aborigines have already,” Bolt wrote, saying the debate was “nonsense upon nonsense.”

“How crazy to divide us by race so crudely that even a Ray Martin could have a voice in the constitution to speak for himself, but not for the 97 percent of Australians who don’t have such a rear -great-grandmother of the country.” “good” race,” Bolt wrote.

The referendum to constitutionally recognize indigenous peoples by creating the Voice will take place on Saturday.

To pass, it must win the approval of a majority of voters, but also win in a majority of states.

Voter surveys have brought little bad news to the Yes23 campaign over the past month.

A Newspoll poll released Sunday shows the proposal is poised for an ignominious defeat, with 58 percent saying they will vote no compared to just 34 percent in favor of yes, with 8 percent undecided.