No campaign launches digital Voice campaign targeting Indigenous voters

The No campaign against the Voice to Parliament has launched a digital campaign that appears to be targeting Indigenous voters.

It’s the latest in a number of Facebook pages run by the No campaign aimed at different voters with sometimes contradictory messages.

Not My Voice is a Facebook page and website created late last month and authorised by Nyunggai Warren Mundine on behalf of Australians for Unity, a group created by the merger of Mundine’s Recognise a Better Way and Advance’s Fair Australia campaigns against the Voice.

The campaign appears to be targeted directly at Indigenous voters. Fronted by Mundine and featuring testimonials from a handful of other Indigenous people, Not My Voice’s website uses phrases like “We don’t need to be treated differently” and “The Voice proposes to minimise our diversity by shrinking our 300 tribes down to 25 people”.

Not My Voice argues that the Voice to Parliament is a policy promoted by Indigenous elites. “They’re the same people who have been on government boards and committees for decades and now they want to be in the constitution,” the website says beside a picture of Mundine, who has previously sat on the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Indigenous Economic Advisory Council of the Australian Government, the SBS board, and currently sits on a number of boards, according to his LinkedIn.

Starting late last week, Australians for Unity has spent $7700 promoting a seven-minute documentary about Mundine to more than 400,000 people across Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta’s Ad Library.

Behind the scenes, the campaign appears to be mostly run by Advance (formerly Advance Australia). Its website is registered to ADVANCE AUS Ltd and Advance’s executive director Matthew Sheahan. Sheahan and other Advance staff are registered as directors of Australians for Unity along with Mundine and Gary Johns (who has recently rejected calls to resign over offensive comments).

While donations are solicited by Australian for Unity — a registered charity that has deductible gift recipient status — Not My Voice’s donation policy specifies: “All donations made to AFU will go to supporting the No campaign by Fair Australia, powered by ADVANCE.”

The No camp has an array of different campaigns targeted at specific voters. Crikey first reported in May that Advance, on top of its main Fair Australia campaign, was running a “news” Facebook page called Referendum News, and Not Enough, a Facebook page using progressive arguments against the Voice.

While the No campaign outspent the Yes campaign on digital advertising for parts of the first half of the year, the Yes campaign has drastically increased its spending as its position has slipped in the polls.

Australians for Unity did not respond to a request for comment.