Voice architect and campaigner Marcia Langton has taken a veiled swipe at LNP Senator Jacinta Price by referencing a quote allegedly made by her father and used by a controversial figure in the No campaign.
While answering a question from a journalist after giving an address at Canberra’s National Press Club on Wednesday Professor Langton referenced a speech by No vote advocate Gary Johns where he allegedly used a quote from Senator Price’s dad.
‘One person said recently, ‘if they want a Voice – learn English’, Professor Langton said.
Dr Johns, who is president of anti-Voice group Recognise a Better Way, used the alleged quote from Senator Price’s dad, Dave Price, during a speech to the conservative CPAC event held in Sydney last month.
‘Now, yesterday, Senator Jacinta Price declined to approve of that person (Dr Johns),’ Professor Langton said.
‘Well, why? Because of the school whose governing committee she chairs, I believe, teaches the curriculum in the four local languages spoken by the Indigenous children from the town camps who attend the school.
Senator Jacinta Price (pictured left) with her parents Bess Price and Dave Price, who was an English teacher
‘So you know, they’re throwing out highly curated slogans to the public, but behind the slogans, at least some of them understand exactly the problem.
‘Cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, extreme disadvantage, and the priority that children must take.’
During his CPAC speech Dr Johns said: ‘As Dave Price, Jacinta’s dad, has said to me often enough: ‘If you want a voice, learn English. That’s your voice’.
Dr Johns made the comments while asserting that Indigenous people in remote communities were living in ‘stupor’ and needed the tools to ‘adapt to life in the modern world’.
Dr Johns’ speech attracted widespread criticism including by Nationals leader David Littleproud and a number of Coalition members who oppose the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
However, when asked about the comments Senator Price did not completely disavow what she called Dr Johns’ ‘perspective’.
‘Indigenous kids, whose first language is not English, need to be able to understand, read and write,’ she said on Tuesday.
Professor Marcia Langton used an address at the National Press Club to take a veiled swipe at Senator Price’s dad
‘(To) learn English to participate in a modern Australia for the benefit of themselves, and for the benefit of future employment opportunities – to participate in society as is,’ she told the press.
In saying Dr Johns had a ‘pretty pertinent point’ Senator Price referred to her dad.
‘My parents . . . both have been teachers for a very long time, my father is a former English teacher,’ she said.
‘The importance of reading and writing English, [that] has led to great opportunities, like representing the country as a Senator.’
However, the Senator later appeared to distance herself from the CPAC speech as she took a dig at the media while holding a the press conference to call for more funding for the Yipirinya school that she chairs in central Australia.
“People can have their opinions,’ she said.
“I’m not concerned with the opinions of others, I’m concerned for the welfare of children in marginalised communities – be nice if the media were concerned for that as well.’
Senator Price will speak at the National Press Club next Thursday.
Former Labor minister Gary Johns has become a controversy magnet during the Voice campaign
Dr Johns, a former Labor minister, has been the subject of considerable controversy for his leading role in the anti-Voice campaign.
In 2003 during a speech to the Bennelong Society Conference Dr Johns likened the ‘preoccupation’ with preserving Indigenous communities to keeping a zoo.
‘It was as if it was a postcolonial situation where people had regained their land and were fighting to establish a nation,’ Dr Johns said.
‘There was an obsession with preserving difference. It is what you do in zoos – preserve things and put them aside.’
Dr Johns has also called for genetic testing before Indigenous people can obtain ‘race-based benefits’ and welfare payments.
His comments have even drawn criticism from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with many calling the No campaign to sack him.
Whether Australia recognises the continent’s original inhabitants with an constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament will be decided by referendum on October 14.
Senator Price has been contacted for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk