Prominent Voice leader Noel Pearson has launched a personal attack on the life’s work of former social justice commissioner and royal commission leader Mick Gooda, a day after Gooda said he feared the referendum could fail.
, labelled the well-known Indigenous figure a “bedwetter” who had done little for Indigenous people after Gooda said he was terrified the referendum may fail if Voice leaders did not compromise on the scope of the proposed advisory body.In a lengthy and fierce interview, Pearson said Gooda was “extremely foolish” for suggesting a change to the constitutional wording after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had already consulted with Indigenous leaders on a draft.
Gooda was involved in shaping the critical 2021 Calma-Langton report that underpinned the Voice and said this week he was deeply attached to the referendum’s success, prompting his move to publicly call for a course correction.In his interview with this masthead, Gooda said he was sure he would be criticised for speaking out.
‘Mick [Gooda]‘s problem is that he thinks he can’t separate compromise from capitulation. He thinks capitulation is compromise.’“The [royal commission] did not produce any change,” Pearson said. “You think the problems we’re having an Alice Springs with youth justice have got nothing to do with the Mick Gooda inquiry? Of course it has.”
“The day that we allow someone like him to be the arbiter of the position of Indigenous people in negotiation with parliament and the government is the day we get the whole game away.”Asked by ABC Radio National host Patricia Karvelas if he was playing the man not the ball, Pearson said: “When the man’s holding the ball in the way he is. Well, you’ve got to tackle him.”
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