Key Points
- The Australian Financial Review was accused of publishing a racist ad for the Voice to Parliament No campaign.
- Its publisher has apologised and said the ad "should not have run".
- One of the cartoon's subjects described it as a "personal and racist attack".
Nine, the publisher of the Australian Financial Review newspaper, has issued an apology after a cartoon in favour of the voice to parliament No campaign was labelled a "personal and racist attack" by one of its subjects.
The No campaign has taken out a full page cartoon ad in the newspaper which depicts Independent MP Kate Chaney sitting on her father's knee while he hands money to Indigenous Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo.
It is captioned "Don't worry sweetheart, it's just shareholders money," and describes Mayo as a "radical activist."
The picture was authorised by Advance, the group behind Fair Australia, which has been campaigning against the Voice.
“(It is) disappointing to see the no campaign stooping to personal and racist attacks when Australians are more interested in learning the facts about the voice and how it can contribute to Closing the Gap,” said Chaney in a statement Thursday.
“Ultimately, I think people will vote in the referendum based on what is fair and useful, not based on fear and hate,” she said.
Chaney's father Michael is the chairman of Wesfarmers, the corporation that owns Bunnings Warehouse, and was criticised by Opposition leader Peter Dutton for donating to the Yes campaign.
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A spokesperson for Nine said the cartoon shouldn't have been published.
"The political advertisement about the Voice referendum placed into today's Financial Review should not have run and we apologise for that," they said.
"We want to encourage a mature debate from both sides and avoid personal and/or inappropriate attacks."
NSW Liberal MP Matt Kean said the cartoon drew comparisons with racial segregation messaging in the United States in the 20th century.
"The racist trope of Thomas Mayo in today's full page AFR ad has no place in Australian politics," he wrote on Twitter.
"It's a throwback to the Jim Crow era of the Deep South. The No Campaign has every right to be heard but can do much better than this."
A spokesperson for Advance said criticism for the cartoon was from "elites".
"There it is again — the Yes campaign elites playing the race card straight off the top of the deck," they said.
Fair Australia says it will be calling more than two million people in coming weeks to conduct a survey on what it terms the "divisive" Voice.
Monique Ryan, another federal independent MP and voice supporter, said on Thursday: “In a few small steps, the No campaign has reduced a respectful and important national conversation to racist, sexist, insulting tropes. We are so much better than this. Australians are kind and compassionate people. That’s why we’re voting yes.”
But former politician Warren Mundine, an Indigenous man who has campaigned against the Voice, said the ad was not problematic.
"It's a straightforward cartoon that is spelling out exactly what it is, which is about corporate Australia spending shareholders' money on this campaign," he told the ABC.
"She (Ms Chaney) is his daughter. There is nothing in that cartoon that is sexist, that is racist. This is a complete joke."
