The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, is being accused of misrepresenting his visit to the Western Australian town of Leonora, with locals claiming he was more interested in their views on the cashless debit card, than canvassing their opinion on the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Dutton said he travelled to communities, including Leonora, about 800km north-east of Perth, seeking grassroots opinions on the voice and this had helped inform the Liberal leader’s decision to oppose the yes vote.
However, locals who spoke to Guardian Australia said Dutton had limited discussion with them about the voice, including at a dinner with Indigenous elders. Dutton tweeted a picture of this meeting which took place in February.
James Calyun, a Martu man from Meekatharra and his partner, Samantha Banks, a Wongatha woman, met Dutton. The pair claim the visit was not about finding out what people thought about the voice, with the main topics being the Indue card and social issues.
“No one has actually spoken about the voice to us in those visits from Peter Dutton,” Calyun said.
“Politicians, they come in and sit down, but they don’t actually hear as if we did a one-on-one, person-to-person talk and they took away our values, our ideals and listened to us properly. Then we’d have a much better outcome.”
After months of speculation, Dutton last week announced the Liberal party would join the Nationals and “actively” campaign against the voice.
Dutton said the party supported constitutional recognition and local and regional voices but rejected a national voice. He said he had spoken to Indigenous elders “on the ground” in Leonora, Laverton and East Arnhem Land, as well as his party room, before reaching his position.
However, local elder Geraldine Hogarth – who attended the dinner – said she was surprised Dutton mentioned their meeting and the town when discussing the referendum.
Hogarth said that the main topic of conversation was the cashless debit card and social issues in the town.
“Minister Dutton came to Leonora to visit us, to talk about issues and he mainly came for the card, the Indue card,” she said.
“I liked it as it helped and there’s another person at that meeting said that they didn’t like it. So she gave her reasons. Then we went on to talk about other issues in our community and then we went to dinner.”
Hogarth said she had raised the voice with Dutton.
“I asked him what he thought about the yes vote. He said: ‘Geraldine, I advise you to go for it, say yes, [because] you might have to wait for the next 100-plus years for another referendum,’” she said.
“That’s why I was shocked to hear that he was against it.”
Last week, Dutton told the ABC that he had a “number of private conversations with Indigenous elders” and noted he had a “very significant town hall meeting in Leonora”.
“I feel very confident, I’ve got to say, in the position that we’ve adopted,” he said.
“As many elders have said, as we’ve moved around the country, they’re not in favour of the voice … and we need to take their advice.”
Colleen Berry, a Wongatha woman who also attended the dinner with Dutton, said she did not have a conversation with the leader herself, but that the meeting was mainly concerned with other matters and the voice only came up after someone else raised it.
The mayor of Leonora, Peter Craig, met Dutton and the prime minister recently to discuss issues facing the community, including concerns about the abolition of the cashless debit card, family violence and alcohol.
“Peter Dutton wasn’t there [in Leonora] to talk about the voice, he was there for other matters, local issues, but it just happened to come up in conversation,” Craig said.
“I think there’s still a severe lack of understanding on what [the voice] means for everybody. So it’s not just Aboriginals, I think it’s everybody.”
Dutton has been contacted for comment.
