A key Pacific leader told Penny Wong last year that the region's respect for Indigenous culture 'is what sets us apart from the rest of the world'.
A key Pacific leader told Penny Wong last year that the region's respect for Indigenous culture"is what sets us apart from the rest of the world".
And current Vanuatu MP Ralph Regenvanu insisted this weekend that "respect for Australia in the Pacific will be elevated" by a Yes vote on 14 October. In May 2022, Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna told Wong, on her first trip as foreign minister, that the Pacific’s "respect for culture and Indigenous identity … is what sets us apart from the rest of the world".
"This narrative can be weaponised by certain unfriendly, foreign powers … A No vote would add another data point to say: 'White, racist country that doesn't belong in the Pacific'," he said. "It reflects obviously worse on the Opposition than it does on the government. But in a broader sense, the distinction won't be made … [The perception would be:] political parties come and go, but you as a nation have voted against this."Meg Keen, director of the Lowy Institute's Pacific Islands Program, said most current Pacific leaders had not expressed strong views on the Voice, which they saw as a domestic issue.
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