Watching the Yes campaign events across the country has been a rare show of shared political drive.
That is: MPs from federal and state parliaments of both major political stripes (and beyond) fronting or joining crowds and cameras together to seek a constitutionally enshrined Voice.
One major exception is Queensland, where LNP leaders and most of their colleagues have publicly backed a No vote – with varying vigour. But one lone figure, Gold Coast-based Sam O’Connor, is quietly arguing for Yes.
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor speaks on a September 15 Gold Coast panel with Noel Pearson and Liberals for Yes co-convenor Kate Carnell – the first appearance of a sitting LNP member at a Yes campaign event.
O’Connor went on the record in April about his support and remains the only LNP figure to do so. His stance came before even that of his leader and coastal colleague David Crisafulli, who laid out his reasons for voting no in May.
At that time, Crisafulli said his MPs would be free to vote or speak up as they wished – for either side.
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Just over a week ago, with little fanfare, O’Connor became the first to do just that for the Yes campaign on a public panel in his electorate of Bonney with Noel Pearson and Liberals for Yes co-convenor Kate Carnell.
With a badge on his jacket, O’Connor laid out his broader thinking, saying supporters needed to ensure the Yes vote on the coast – the second-largest city in a state showing the equal-lowest polled support – was as high as possible.
The key, the 32-year-old said, came down to the reasons he joined the LNP while at university: governing efficiently and getting out of people’s way.
“For me, this is all about empowering communities. This is all about lifting people up and reducing inequality,” O’Connor told the room of about 100 at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, nodding to the gaps in health, education and incarceration experienced by First Nations people.
The structure of the question voters are being asked, to simply enshrine a Voice, with the finer details worked out and future tweaks and changes made by elected members of parliament, was another factor.
“If the model is not working, parliament can update it – it can change. There is no institution in this country that has been established, and it’s perfect. They always need to be tweaked,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said the fact some centre-right voters viewed the Voice as a Labor idea driven by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should have been better countered by the Yes campaign, when in reality it had been pulled together over many years by many people.
He also hoped “misconceptions” spread by some media and personalities could be answered by thoughtful conversations when voters became more engaged closer to making their final choice.
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Pressed on misinformation and fear also coming from his party, O’Connor urged one attendee to raise those issues with their MP, and said he was doing his part by being there at the event.
I reached out to O’Connor last week, who has not been so bold to appear alongside Queensland Labor or Greens MPs at Yes events, offering to speak more for this piece. He preferred to let his comments at the public forum speak for themselves.
And while there is a noticeable lack of Voice material shared with his modest social media followings, O’Connor has been sharing his reasoning with those constituents who have questioned his views.
In one email, seen by this masthead, O’Connor pushes back on the idea the Voice would single out one race of people – a key point in the No campaign’s effort to paint it as “divisive” – by noting the powers already in the Constitution allowing the federal government to make special laws about First Nations people.
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“There is no other group of Australians singled out in this way, so I think it’s only fair to create an advisory body to make those laws as good as they can be,” he said.
Speaking to me last week, Carnell said the difficulty facing LNP members in Queensland wanting to speak up was two-fold: the federal party leadership’s hardline position, and the state election in 13 months.
“The LNP are certainly in the game to win the next election, and the last thing people want to see are party splits. So, it’s very difficult for Libs or Nats who will personally vote yes to be putting their heads up,” the Brisbane-born former Liberal ACT chief minister said.
While the state LNP has less defined groupings than those in the federal Coalition, O’Connor is what would be considered a moderate who sits in shadow cabinet with responsibilities for the environment, science and youth portfolios. He has been lampooned by colleagues for his “crazy left-wing stuff”.
A survey of his partyroom by The Australian in April, before Crisafulli’s declaration, resulted in only seven saying publicly they would vote no. This list has now grown to at least 17 MPs, after I contacted the previously unsures or undecideds last week.
The party’s membership and some federal figures are also reportedly frustrated with the state MPs for backing the Palaszczuk government’s recent Path to Treaty legislation.
Answering another question to the Gold Coast panel about why there was so much political opposition to the Voice proposal, Carnell pointed to the ease in which misinformation can be spread on social media.
O’Connor then noted the need to convince a majority of everyday voters nationwide – in the case of a referendum, also a majority in a majority of the states – under our compulsory voting system.
“But it can be hard. I mean, that’s the decision that others have made to go down that path,” O’Connor said of those in the campaign who have leant into fear and misinformation.
“Kate and I have made our own choices.”
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