Latest news with #Referendum
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
New files reveal how Dan Andrews allocated $6.5million in taxpayer dollars to boost the Voice as support plummeted across the country
Dan Andrews' Labor government invested millions in the Yes campaign at the eleventh hour of the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. In September 2023, three weeks before Australians' cast their vote, funds budgeted to support Victoria's pathway to Indigenous Treaty were reassigned. Briefing files, revealed by the Herald Sun on Wednesday, found the state government approved the reallocation of $6.5million to boost the 'Yes' campaign - as part of a movement from governments in all Australian states and territories. In February 2023, each committed to the National Cabinet's Statement of Intent, supporting a national, constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament. Former Victorian assistant treasurer Danny Pearson approved the 'reprioritisation' of funds which was signed off by then-minister for treaty and First Peoples of Australia, Gabrielle Williams, on September 25. In the fortnight leading up to the referendum on October 14, support for the Voice plummeted to 34 per cent, reaching its lowest ebb. But the funding was not used and was re-allocated back to the Treaty process. 'The Victorian Government did not spend any money on the Commonwealth Voice referendum,' a state government spokesperson said. In that crucial period, a Newspoll conducted by The Australian found the 'No' vote outnumbered the 'Yes' case in every demographic category. Warren Mundine, who strongly advocated for the No campaign, told the Herald Sun the approval of the funding was a 'disgrace'. 'It was quite definite that the Voice was going to be thrown away,' he said. 'The Victorian government are happy to just leak money.' The First Peoples Assembly of Victoria declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia. The revelation comes as discussion of The Voice was reinvigorated this year. Foreign Minister Penny Wong claimed in April, during her first podcast interview, that there will one day be a Voice. 'I think we'll look back on it in 10 years' time and it'll be a bit like marriage equality,' Senator Wong told the Betoota Talks podcast. '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?"' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly dismissed the notion of holding another referendum.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Second indyref not a ‘priority' during my time as Prime Minister
Sir Keir Starmer has said another Scottish independence referendum is not a 'priority' and he cannot imagine one taking place during his time as Prime Minister. The Labour leader said First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney had not raised the issue with him during their recent talks. Scots voted in an independence referendum in 2014, with the No side securing 55% of the vote. Since then, successive UK governments have denied the SNP's pleas for a second referendum. The Prime Minister was speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday, a day after launching the strategic defence review in Glasgow. He was asked if there would be another independence referendum if a nationalist majority emerges after next year's Holyrood election. Sir Keir said: 'I think it's really important to focus on the priorities that matter most. 'We got a big election win last year on the basis that we would stabilise the economy and ensure that on that foundation we build a stronger Scotland in a stronger United Kingdom, and that's what I intend to do.' He was then asked if he could imagine another independence referendum during his time as Prime Minister. Sir Keir said: 'No, and nobody's raising that with me as their first priority. 'Certainly, in the discussions I'm having with the First Minister, that is not – we're talking about jobs, energy, security, and dealing with the cost-of-living crisis.' Last month Mr Swinney said a 'democratic majority' of pro-independence MSPs following the next Scottish Parliament election should result in another referendum. The Prime Minister said whatever the outcome next May, an independence referendum is 'not a priority'. Speaking to Good Morning Scotland, Sir Keir also discussed the defence sector in said there are around 25,000 defence jobs in Scotland and the strategic defence review announcements would 'build on that'. The Prime Minister said: 'I would like to see many, many jobs in Scotland. 'Scotland has an incredible heritage and skilled work people in Scotland. 'We've just been looking at some of the frigates which have been built and are being built in Scotland.' He insisted the SNP is 'wrong' in its opposition to nuclear weapons and said 'we're entering a new era on defence and security'. SNP MP Stephen Gethins responded to Sir Keir's points on the BBC radio programme later on Tuesday, saying: 'I have to say it's a bit disappointing and maybe a bit arrogant of the Prime Minister to think he can speak for everybody. 'This shouldn't be an issue that's decided by one person at Downing Street or elsewhere. This should be a matter for the people of Scotland. 'I would have thought that given Keir Starmer's troubles he would have learned something.' Mr Gethins said he is not privy to private conversations between Mr Swinney and the Prime Minister. Discussing the defence review, he said the policy of 'running down the Army' in recent years has been wrong.
The National
28-05-2025
- Business
- The National
No UK politician including Starmer will overturn Brexit, but that's OK
Here's a prediction. Future historians will look back on just 16 words and reflect on the extraordinary self-harm they caused the UK in the first quarter of the 21st century. Those 16 words are: 'Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?' That was the question asked in 2016 of UK voters over the age of 18 who took part in their country's supposedly 'advisory' Brexit referendum. History teaches that future generations sometimes look back on their ancestors and wonder: 'What on Earth were they thinking?' Brexit already fits into that category. Vote Leave narrowly won the referendum and the UK left the EU. But far from ending arguments about the country's relationship with Europe, these arguments have never gone away. They have intensified in almost a decade of recriminations, regret, rethinks and now renegotiations. One result is the miserable state of the UK's Conservative party that brought its people Brexit. They are in deep trouble, intellectually adrift, led (for now at least) by the hapless Kemi Badenoch, bereft of ideas, lacking real talent and facing challenges from the right and Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. It would of course be foolish to underestimate the survival instincts of the party of Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. The Tories will probably recover eventually. But Brexit won't. Brexit is already brain dead, clinging on life support. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government is reluctant to bury it, at least for now. But they appear to be gradually changing UK-EU relations towards something that looks like Brexit in name only, with their new deal to reduce trade friction and costly border bureaucracy. This will eventually enable UK goods and holidaymakers to pass more rapidly through European seaports and airports. These and other changes have been welcomed by supermarkets, retailers, exporters and meat and food processors across the country, plus many individual businesses and trade organisations, and by the public. The deal is of course opposed by the people who helped bring the country the Brexit fiasco – Ms Badenoch and Mr Farage. They claim the new deal is a 'betrayal' of the referendum result. But since the referendum was a supposedly 'advisory' vote on that vague 16-word question, the Brexit bunch are left fighting yesterday's political battles. It is unlikely the UK ever achieve as good a deal with the EU as that negotiated by Thatcher. Even so, the world has changed unimaginably since the 2016 vote It is true that since 1945, UK politicians have constantly argued and dithered about their country's relationship with Europe. After the Second World War, as former US secretary of state Dean Acheson memorably put it, 'Great Britain has lost an Empire and not yet found a role'. Mr Acheson believed the obvious role meant the UK joining with other Europeans. US President Donald Trump's 'America First' policies may confirm that observation and accelerate that process in future. Even so, the UK has often been reluctant to accept that its islands are tied by geography and history to the European continent just 40 kilometres from its shores. In 1952, France and Germany created the European Coal and Steel Community, followed in 1957 by the European Economic Community (later the EU). The UK did not get on board until 1973. Later, Mrs Thatcher negotiated hugely beneficial terms for the UK in the EU, but Brexit upended all that and upended her Conservative party too. Former prime minister Boris Johnson ruthlessly got rid of Conservative MPs who opposed the UK's exit from the EU. The resulting Brexit deal was a mess of trade restrictions, border checks, bureaucracy, long queues of lorries and forlorn UK holidaymakers delayed at EU passport control. This debacle explains why the Conservatives are currently enduring their fourth leader in three years under Ms Badenoch. Astonishingly, the Tories are now so unpopular in opinion polls that they lie fourth behind the governing Labour party, the Liberal Democrats and the upstart Reform UK. Three things are now absolutely clear. First, the UK's people overwhelmingly think Brexit was a mistake. Second, while few politicians dare speak about 'overturning' Brexit, the 'reset' announced by Mr Starmer is the beginning of the end for the Brexit delusion. Third – unfortunately – it is unlikely that the UK will ever achieve in future as good a deal with the EU as that negotiated by Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s. Even so, the world has changed unimaginably since the 2016 vote – changed by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Trump's unpredictability and the constant threats about trade wars and tariffs. More positively, many European governments understand the value of the UK's defence industry, its military and its support for a secure Europe. Many people in the UK also now more clearly understand their common European home and the need to work together with their closest neighbours, friends and trading partners. Recent YouGov polling reflects how the public mood has changed. Almost two thirds (62 per cent) of Britons think Brexit has failed. More than half (53 per cent) say they would vote to rejoin the EU. Unfortunately, rejoining doesn't appear to be an option. And if the UK's people ever vote in any future referendum, it needs to be more carefully constructed than that vaguely phrased sentence of 16 ill-defined words that got the country into the Brexit mess in the first place.
CBC
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Amid Alberta referendum questions, Houston says Canada is better united
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says he's not given much thought to whether legislation advanced by his counterpart in Alberta would make it easier for that province to leave Canada, but he believes the country is stronger if it remains united. "The premier will do what she thinks is right for Albertans. That's what premiers do," Houston told reporters following a news conference Tuesday. "So I have respect for each of us having our own challenges and responsibilities and trying to find our best way through them." Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government recently introduced legislation that would lower the threshold required to get a referendum question before the public. The bill comes at a time when some Albertans are advocating for the province to separate from Canada to become its own country and Smith has called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to reset the relationship between Ottawa and her province. Houston said Tuesday he's "focused on a united Canada." "That's what's best," he said. "The things that are within our control, we'll do those." Houston said his government is doing its part "to maintain natural unity" through a more aggressive advancement of natural resource development opportunities than what's been seen by previous Nova Scotia governments. "We've looked away while people in the West developed resources," he said. "We're going to address that." Premier supports pipeline The Progressive Conservatives recently passed legislation to lift bans on uranium exploration and mining and hydraulic fracturing for onshore natural gas. Houston has also been a vocal supporter for a west-to-east pipeline to move Alberta oil to New Brunswick refineries, along with the need to break down interprovincial trade barriers. Western Canadians have concerns that deserve to be addressed, said Houston, adding that the best way to do that is as one country. Houston was asked about the difference in tone he was striking on the potential of a referendum in Alberta and last month when he blasted Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet for calling Canada an "artificial country." "I don't think there's any similarities, really. The Bloc leader was pretty clear that he's not interested in a united Canada and that he would stop things that would make Canada stronger, like pipelines," he said. "I am interested in a united Canada. I think Canadians are, and I believe the premier [of Alberta] is, too."
Russia Today
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
‘Ghost' kicked out of Italian parliament (VIDEO)
An Italian opposition MP was dragged out of a parliamentary session on Wednesday for dressing up as a ghost and condemning what he said are attempts to stifle democratic participation. In a video shared online, Riccardo Magi, a member of the +Europa party, could be seen wearing a white sheet with cut-out eyeholes and the word 'Referendum' written on the fabric. During the session, he shouted from his seat to protest what his party claims are government efforts to discourage voter turnout for several national referendums scheduled for next month. The votes are set to cover issues such as Italy's citizenship requirements for foreigners and repeal certain labor reform provisions. Magi's demonstration was cut short after Lorenzo Fontana, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, ordered the MP to be escorted out of the session. Parliamentary ushers, together with five security personnel, could then be seen dragging Magi out of the chamber. Possono trascinare il fantasma del Referendum via dall'aula ma non ci fermeranno nel tentare di informare gli solo che il Presidente del Consiglio informi i cittadini sul voto referendario. Non le stiamo chiedendo un favore, è un suo preciso dovere.L'8 e 9… After the incident, Magi uploaded a video of his demonstration on X, writing that 'they can drag the ghost of the Referendum away from the chamber but they will not stop us from trying to inform the Italians.' 'We only ask that the Prime Minister inform citizens about the referendum vote. We are not asking you for a favor, it is your precise duty,' he said, calling on citizens to vote on June 8 and 9 'without fear.'
