The niece of No advocate Warren Mundine has labelled her uncle’s stance on the Voice as ‘inconsistent’ while revealing she is in strong support of the referendum.
Reconciliation of Australia CEO Karen Mundine, 51, said the family has argued over their respective positions about the referendum and claimed her late mother Kaye, who is Mr Mundine’s sister, would be on her side.
Mr Mundine, 67, the former Labor president and a Liberal party candidate in the 2019 election, is a leading campaigner for the No vote and has said Aboriginal people need to ‘move on’ from discussing past traumas.
Ms Mundine told The New Daily‘s Lucie Morris-Marr that while she respects and cares for her uncle, she finds his statements ‘inconsistent’ with his beliefs.
While he is firmly in the No camp, he supports treaty negotiations between the government and Indigenous people and says racism is worse now in Australia than when he grew up.
Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine *(pictured) has criticised her uncle Warren, a leading figure for the No campaign, as ‘inconsistent’
![Mr Mundine (pictured) has said Aboriginal people need to 'move on' from discussing past traumas but also supports treaty discussions](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/20/00/75619431-12537883-image-a-6_1695167841577.jpg)
Mr Mundine (pictured) has said Aboriginal people need to ‘move on’ from discussing past traumas but also supports treaty discussions
![Anthony Mundine has described the Voice as 'straight up trickery' and expressing concerns that 'sovereignty of the land could be ceded' if the referendum were to pass](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/20/00/75619433-12537883-image-a-5_1695167837194.jpg)
Anthony Mundine has described the Voice as ‘straight up trickery’ and expressing concerns that ‘sovereignty of the land could be ceded’ if the referendum were to pass
![Ms Mundine said the family argues over their respective positions and even claimed her dead mother, Warren Mundine's sister, Kaye (pictured) would be on her side](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/20/01/75619419-12537883-Ms_Mundine_said_the_family_argues_over_their_respective_position-m-21_1695168184005.jpg)
Ms Mundine said the family argues over their respective positions and even claimed her dead mother, Warren Mundine’s sister, Kaye (pictured) would be on her side
Ms Mundine suggested the family could drift apart over their political views saying she ‘very much’ disagreed with her uncle’s views on the Voice.
‘Will people be as close? I don’t know right now. It’s hard to say,’ she said.
The highest profile Mundine family member, former champion boxer and NRL superstar Anthony, who is Warren’s second cousin, also plans to vote No.
He described the Voice as ‘straight up trickery’.
Ms Mundine also claimed her mother Kaye, a champion for Indigenous rights who died in 2016 aged 69, would disagree with her brother, with whom she used to ‘lock horns … a lot’.
‘She would be hating this whole debate,’ she said.
Ms Mundine said her uncle had a direct impact on her childhood and ‘helped raise’ her and that she loved and respected him.
‘He has a point of view and he stands for that, but I very much disagree with that point of view,’ she said.
The increasing divisiveness of the campaign has led to abuse directed at Reconciliation Australia, the organisation she has led since 2017.
They have been bombarded with abusive calls and social media messages and even received ‘an unsigned threat’.
One of her female colleagues, door knocking for the Yes campaign also had a hot cup of coffee thrown over her.
Mr Mundine previous told Daily Mail Australia the Voice hasn’t impacted the relationships in the family.
‘In our family there is a wide range of opinions, just like any other family,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
![One-time Labor leader Warren Mundine told Daily Mail Australia his family is like any other in Australia - some will vote No, others Yes, and many are still undecided. He is voting no](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/20/00/73114271-12537883-One_time_Labor_leader_Warren_Mundine_told_Daily_Mail_Australia_h-a-2_1695167093628.jpg)
One-time Labor leader Warren Mundine told Daily Mail Australia his family is like any other in Australia – some will vote No, others Yes, and many are still undecided. He is voting no
‘When we get together, we talk about family stuff – the footy, our lives. We don’t let the Voice interfere with family business.
‘We love each other and I am very, very proud of Karen. She has had an incredible career and she is an amazing woman.’
Mr Mundine was the ninth of eleven children and grew up in Auburn, western Sydney with seven brothers and three sisters, including Kaye.
Ms Mundine plans to vote Yes because the Voice advisory body will be ‘a better mechanism for better outcomes’.
‘The Voice is what First Nations people want so we can have some agency in our lives,’ she said.