‘Cannot be trusted': Peta Credlin and Andrew Bolt deliver blistering rebuke of Labor in wake of reignited Voice discussion; label Wong's comments no accident

Sky News AU

30-04-2025

Sky News hosts Peta Credlin and Andrew Bolt have fiercely slammed Labor for resurrecting the Voice to Parliament three days out from the federal election.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Voice, which was overwhelmingly rejected by more than 60 per cent of Australians in a referendum in 2023, was now inevitable.
'I think we'll look back on it in 10 years' time and it'll be a bit like marriage equality,' she said on the Betoota Talks podcast, comparing the two issues.
'I ­always used to say, marriage equality, which took us such a bloody fight to get that done – and I thought, all this fuss – it'll become something, it'll be like, people go 'did we even have an argument about that?'.
Peta Credlin suggested the reason why Penny Wong resurrected the Voice from the dead was to stir up increased support from younger voters that had drifted away from Labor towards the Greens.
She also claimed that the comments had been strategically pushed out in the dying days of the campaign, "late enough" that it wouldn't get widely reported, but with enough time that "they can then claim it as some sort of mandate" if Labor won the election.
The host argued that to revive the Voice now would "trash" the democratic decision Labor took in the first place to take the polarising issue to a referendum.
Credlin also suggested a renewed effort to legislate the Voice was "front and centre" in Labor's widespread preference deals with the Greens.
"So every Australian who voted No needs to send the PM a message in terms he can't help but understand and that message is to throw him out of office on his ear," she said.
"Because, you've heard me say this before, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
Sky News presenter Andrew Bolt also blasted the Foreign Minister 'who never says a careless word', describing her comments as 'absolutely stunning'.
'Australians 18 months ago said no to dividing us by race, no to the Voice, a kind of advisory parliament just for Aboriginals. 60 per cent of Australians voted no at a referendum, but here is Penny Wong suggesting that it may soon be quite inevitable," he said.
Bolt poured cold water on the Prime Minister's assurances on Wednesday that Labor would not revitalise the Voice if re-elected, stating 'but what if Albanese changed his mind, he's changed it before, what if the Greens forced him to make a law to create this Voice in exchange for its support?"
Credlin also stressed that the messaging coming from the Prime Minister "cannot be trusted", following his comments on ABC Radio on Wednesday.
"She did not say that. She spoke about how people will look back on what the issues were. That's very different from saying it's inevitable, she did not say that at all', Mr Albanese said in response to Senator Wong's remarks.
Credlin said Australians had "heard this so often from the liar in the Lodge" and that the Prime Minister has developed a tendency of "Saying one thing, yet doing another,".
"He cannot be trusted.' she said.
Featuring as a guest on Ms Credlin's program on Wednesday, former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Foreign Minister's comments represented a flagrant disregard for the failure of the Voice referendum in October 2023.
"This is a giant two-fingered salute to the voters of Australia, who resoundingly said no to a Voice," he said.
"What Penny Wong has admitted today is 'you're going to get the Voice anyway if we stay in government'.
"The only language people like Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese will understand is being booted out, because if they stay the Voice is coming regardless of how we voted, whether we like it or not."
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Labor of pushing a "secret plan to legislate the Voice".
'Under a Labor-Greens government, we see this secret plan to legislate the voice and Penny Wong has let that cat out of the bag," he said at a press conference.
After considerable backlash from the Opposition Leader and Indigenous figures, Ms Wong confirmed: 'The Voice is gone'.
"The Prime Minister has made that clear, and the Australian people have made their position clear, and we respect the result of the referendum," she said.