The former Nationals MP Andrew Gee has accused the opposition of using the no campaign against the Indigenous voice as a fundraiser for the Liberal National party.
Gee, who quit the Nationals over his support for the Indigenous voice to parliament, was speaking at Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Sunday.
After the panel, the member for Calare told Guardian Australia he thought they had been “making no secret of it”.
“I still get the emails, these party emails, that say, ‘We have to oppose the voice. Please send us money, donate money.’ So yeah, they are using it to fundraise,” Gee said.
“They’re using it as a rallying point, and they think that energises the base, and they think that it’s going to launch them through to the next election.”
But Gee said he thought they had the politics “all wrong”.
“I think at some point in time, they will get mugged by reality. Whatever happens in this referendum, even if the referendum does not succeed, they will be mugged by reality, because they will have alienated a whole cross section of voters who traditionally would support them,” he told Guardian Australia.
Gee was among a group of federal politicians at Garma on a panel discussing the voice to parliament on Sunday. He was joined by Independent member for Curtin Kate Chaney, Liberal MP for Berowra Julian Leeser, Labor MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour and the WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox.
They are all supporters of the yes vote in the upcoming referendum to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution.
The panel host, the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, told the audience “the Garma festival did invite some prominent no voices as well” but they had “declined that invitation”. The panel represented all the political parties.
On the panel, Gee said he thought the LNP had “rocks in its head” if it thought it could win back its voter base by opposing the voice.
Gee said even if the vote doesn’t succeed, the conservative side of politics “will be seen as reconciliation wreckers”.
The Nationals have been contacted for comment. The Liberal party said: “Yes, the Liberal Party is currently raising funds, which will be devoted to communicating with voters about the significant risks posed my Mr Albanese’s Voice model.”
The Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who stepped down from his role as spokesman on Indigenous Australians due to his support for the voice, said it was “practical reconciliation” and an opportunity for change.
“I made this decision because I’ve been involved in the debate for a long time and I felt it was the right thing to do, and I think this is a safe and important change,” he said.
“I’m enjoying getting out and actually talking to unconvinced people. And that’s really important, because we can all sit here and say, let’s vote yes and preach to the choir at Garma … but if we don’t go and actually see people who are undecided, we will not win this referendum.”
