MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster says she “wasn’t necessarily happy” authorising the distribution of “no” campaign material with her name and face on it.
Dr Webster said she had a strong view that the Indigenous Voice referendum was an independent vote and people were able to make their own choice.
“I wasn’t necessarily happy with even putting out any ‘no’ material,” Dr Webster said.
“My view is that I don’t need to engage in what I believe fundamentally is a very divisive process and a very divisive referendum.
“I really want to keep the peace and allow people to get on with their lives, and make their own vote and we’ll move on.
“I haven’t organised people to stand on polling booths.
“I know the ‘yes’ campaign, which is incredibly well funded, has got people that will be on polling booths to hand out ‘yes’ material.
“I have not organised that. I just don’t believe it’s the right thing to do and I think that people will be able to make up their own mind.”
Despite her stance, Dr Webster was asked to approve the distribution of flyers sent to various mailboxes in Mallee titled “10 reasons to say no at the referendum”.
The material has Dr Webster’s name and face on it, alongside her Nationals colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
The flyer has a highlighted line “if you don’t know, say no”, which Dr Webster has since received criticism over.
She said the “no” campaign had made some decisions that had nothing to do with her.
“So some material, particularly all the text messages, have not come from me,” she said.
“I didn’t even know that were coming. I got one of the text messages.
“It’s the nature of political parties to send out material.
“I’ve since found that some colleagues didn’t send out (the flyer) material … and my view would have been that would have been a better decision.”
Dr Webster confirmed that she gave approval for the letters to be sent.
“Let me say very clearly, I absolutely admire Jacinta Nampijinpa Price,” Dr Webster said.
“Her stand is extraordinary, she is a woman, a Warlpiri woman who has lived this life and I utterly respect her views and utterly respect her position, and I will support her.
“Not only because she is my colleague and sits in my party room, but I will support her because she brings a sane and intelligent argument to the table, and Australians, I believe, respect that.
“She’s a brave, strong, incredible Australian and I absolutely have no problem aligning with her.”
The flyer featuring Dr Webster directs people interested in postal voting to a postal voting page run by the Liberal and National parties.
The Australian Electoral Commission said that while third party postal vote applications are legal and occur during every election and referendum, the process is exempt from the Privacy Act.
Applying for a postal vote directly through the AEC’s website is the quickest way to obtain a ballot paper.
The AEC operates under the Privacy Act and postal vote applications involve the disclosure of personal details.
Dr Webster said despite messaging from both sides, the referendum was an individual choice.
“People will be receiving ‘yes’ material as well, it’s the nature of political parties,” she said.
“It’s the nature of politics itself, that each side seeks to persuade and we’ll see how it all pans out.
“October 14 is coming, I say bring it on and let’s move on.”
