Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has been subjected to horrendous racial abuse on social media. Warning: Graphic
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has branded the last fortnight of debate about the Voice referendum in Parliament “unbelievably racist”. Minister Burney made the unvarnished remarks to New South Wales Premier Chris Minns while campaigning for Yes on the streets of Kogarah on Friday morning. With cameras watching on, Linda Burney tells Mr Minns: “We’ve just finished two weeks of gruelling parliament … To me, it’s just unbelievably racist and bullying. The way they have treated me is appalling.” Sky News has reached out to Minister Burney’s office to clarify if she was referring to the Opposition.
Labor frontbencher Linda Burney has detailed the torrent of racist abuse she has endured during the Voice referendum — including people calling her “a coconut” “a half-caste mongrel” and asking “who let her out of her cage.”
Ms Burney was caught in a hot mic incident on Friday telling NSW Premier Chris Minns she was subjected to “racism and bullying” in Parliament over the last two sitting weeks.
The conversation was caught by television cameras during a Yes23 campaign event in the NSW premier’s Sydney electorate of Kogarah.
“We’ve just finished two weeks of gruelling parliament. To me it’s just unbelievably racist and bullying,’’ she said.
“The way they have treated me is appalling.”
Mr Minns started to reply “hey, you know what …” before stopping, possibly because he noticed the boom microphones.
The Minister for Indigenous Australians was caught on mic telling NSW Premier Chris Minns about the “appalling treatment” she has been subjected to in parliament over the Voice referendum. Picture: Sky News
Ms Burney described the debate as “unbelievably racist”. Picture: Sky News
Now shocking examples of online abuse Ms Burney has experienced online have been laid bare on Facebook.
Ms Burney’s office provided the material to news.com.au to detail the daily abuse that was pouring in and distressing Labor staffers and supporters
Posts sighted by news.com.au include men and women calling the veteran MP a “fake abo” and a member of the “coconut brigade” suggesting she was black on the outside and white inside.
The grotesque abuse is taking place on a daily basis with voters slinging appalling and defamatory abuse at the veteran MP and mother of two.
In one post a man states “you are one racist, half cast (sic) breed mongrel.”
One post labelled the veteran MP a “coconut”. Picture: Twitter
Ms Burney’s office provided the material to news.com.au. Picture: Twitter
The abuse is occuring on a daily basis. Picture: Twitter
Twenty years ago, Ms Burney made history by becoming the first person of Aboriginal descent to serve in the New South Wales Parliament.
Following the May 2022 federal election, she was appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians after a federal Labor government was elected.
This week, a leading campaigner for the No case Jacinta Nampijinpa Price revealed online trolls for leaking her personal phone number on Twitter sparking an influx of “revolting” messages.
“What I can say is that from the moment this referendum was launched by our Prime Minister, our nation has been divided,” she said.
“We have seen ugliness on display, from right across the board. I know myself and Warren Mundine have been the subject of horrible racial vilification.”
Ms Price said she held Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responsible for the division.
“The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the division that we’re now confronted with,” she said.
“He chose to take this path to divide our nation to not undergo the appropriate processes to involve the Australian people and constitutional conventions and to bring everybody along for the ride.
Jacinta Price. Picture: Martin Ollman
“I condemn all kinds of horrible behaviour that has come out as a result of this.”
But Ms Burney also took aim Senator Price, after she stated that Australia’s colonisation had a positive impact on Indigenous people.
“If we keep telling Aboriginal people that they are victims, we are effectively removing their agency and giving them the expectation that someone else is responsible for their lives,’’ she said.
“That is the worst possible thing you can do to any human being, to tell them that they are a victim without agency. And that is what I refuse to do.’
Ms Burney said she disagreed.
“There are many people I’ve spoken to last night, this morning, that are very distressed and quite frankly, pretty disgusted. But I am going to focus on the goal here and that is a successful referendum,’’ she said.
“It’s a real betrayal to the many families that have experienced things like Stolen Generations.
“The idea that colonisation in any country … doesn’t have long and far-reaching effects is simply wrong.”
