“You’re a socialist fraud,” he declared rather forcefully.
And then, without so much as even drawing a breath, he set about heaping scorn on all my friends, those who were actively supporting the Yes case for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
This ‘pile-on’ happened outside Shepparton’s High St pre-poll booth for the Saturday, October 14 referendum.
It was a cold, wet and rather miserable morning — it wasn’t even nine o’clock — and although a few had voted, not much was happening.
The fellow, who was restrained but intent, seemed committed to letting someone know how he felt about the referendum.
Other than those working inside at the booth, I was the only target in the street.
He opened by arguing that the Yes signs were illegal and shouldn’t actually be there — there weren’t any at the time, as the fellow appointed to deliver them hadn’t yet arrived.
He said the illegal signs had been reported, and those of us from the Yes campaign would be hearing from them — I assumed that was the Australian Electoral Commission.
I mentioned No signs had been on display the previous day, and he claimed that wasn’t true; they weren’t there, he said.
His authority and certainty about the matter intrigued me, as I was actually there that ‘previous day’, and along with standing next to a No sign, one of three, I admired its quality, as it appeared far better than those of the Yes camp.
As for the legality of the signs, our discussion had arrived at a place about which I had no clear understanding.
Those in charge of the pre-poll had clearly marked the footpath, indicating the spot to which Yes and No campaigners could not trespass, and all signs were clearly on the correct side of the line, as were the campaigners from the respective camps.
My friend, and let’s call him that, had clearly arrived at the High St pre-poll booth to ‘empty his bucket’ on someone, as he pulled up, parked his car, came over to me (I was the only person there), asked who was responsible for the Yes signs and then proceeded to tell me, in no uncertain terms, about the supposedly illegal signs and how wrong those were who supported the Yes campaign.
I suggested that if he felt so strongly about the issue, he should head inside and vote No.
“I’ve already voted No”, he said.
He then made several accusations about what was wrong with “the Voice”, suggesting how several proponents of the Yes case had already benefited inordinately from the public purse, how it would divide the nation, how Australia is the best multicultural nation in the world and then asked complex questions that could only be answered in nuanced and subtle ways; subtleties in which he was obviously not interested.
Spotting a fellow he knew leaving the High St booth, he described me as a “socialist fraud”, walked off, talked with the other fellow for a few minutes and then drove off.
Confronted by such people, I quietly retreat to the Bertrand Russell adage: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
Yes, I have doubts about supporting Yes for the referendum, but it’s critically important that we do not let perfect stand in the way of good.
And if we are to look at modern history to create an argument about why we shouldn’t say Yes, let’s consider all our colonial history and honestly and objectively consider just how badly we treated the Indigenous people from when the First Fleet arrived, and how we still treat them.
As an aside, I was granted a small victory — preparing for what would have been an avalanche of accusations, this fellow said, “Have you got a Constitution?” to which I was honestly able to answer “yes”, and it was on my desk, as only a few days ago that Numurkah friend, Lou Cook, who is an enthusiast of such things, gave me a copy.
Being described as a “socialist” doesn’t worry me; in fact, I find comfort in that, but the idea of being a “fraud” is somewhat troubling.
Robert McLean is a former editor of The News