At his first address to the National Press Club, Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO labelled the Uluru Statement from the Heart a "symbolic declaration of war".
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Mundine, a prominent No campaigner and founder of Recognise a Better Way, took the opportunity to state his case for his opposition to the Voice to Parliament.
He said Australians will be offered the choice on October 14 to have a nation that is a "liberal democracy where all people are equal" or a country where "people are divided by race, permanently in conflict with each other about history that cannot be altered".
"The second pathway is the agenda of the Uluru Statement authors," he said.
Mr Mundine then labelled the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a "symbolic declaration of war against modern Australia".
"The canvas is a glossy marketing brochure for the misappropriation of culture, misrepresentation of history and for a radical and divisive vision of Australia," he said.
"All done in the name of Indigenous Australians but working against us."
He claimed that the Statement "couldn't be further from reconciliation" and rather keeps Indigenous Australians "trapped in victimhood and oppression, not free or able to make their own decisions".
Mr Mundine spoke about his own lived experience, living under the Aboriginal Protection Board as a child and the experiences of his mother and father.
"These protection regimes held us down, and kept us from a full Australian life," he said.
"Now the Albanese government wants to put racial segregation back into our constitution."
Nyunggai Warren Mundine prepares to address the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch/AAP Image
"These are not complicated ideas, but they require political will to happen," he said.
He said he believed that many "well-meaning Australians" may be voting yes because they feel obliged "because of misplaced guilt about Australia's history".
Questioned on CPAC conduct
After his address, Mr Mundine was questioned by Host of The Point, NITV, John Paul Janke about his silence on comments made by a comedian performing at the CPAC event last month.
At the event in August, comedian Rodney Marks performed as the character Dr Chaim Tsibos and mocked Welcome to Country.
"I'd like to acknowledge the traditional rent-seekers, past, present and emerging," he said.
He then continued saying that Traditional Owners were "violent black men". He also described Frontier Warrior Bennelong as a "woman-basher".
At the time, Mr Mundine who is the chair of CPAC, initially accepted an interview with NITV however, declined after becoming aware of the topic.
Mr Janke noted that Mr Mundine was yet to condemn or apologise for the comments.
"Comedians do what comedians do," Mr Mundine responded.
Mr Janke also questioned Mr Mundine on a tweet by CPAC media advisor Kayla Hanna.
On September 22, Ms Hanna posted a photograph featuring Thomas Mayo, Professor Megan Davis, Professor Marcia Langton, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, Noel Pearson, Aunty Pat Anderson and Minister Linda Burney.
"These guys look just as European as they do Aboriginal," she wrote.
"What happens when it comes to 'pay the rent?' Do they collect reparations with their Aboriginal hand and return it with their European hand?
"Keep Australians equal #voteno"
Mr Mundine did not respond directly about the tweet, but said that when discussing the choice to put "race in the constitution" this is the "path you go down".
"We have opened up the door to those debates. We can't really complain about them if we open those doors."
