I watched this little rant from Kevvie and I was really peeved as he totally misled the people on what Tony Abbott said on this topic..
Nice to know someone else saw and noticed it.
Kevin Rudd 'ruins good work on vote', says Warren Mundine
FORMER Labor Party president and indigenous leader Warren Mundine has accused Kevin Rudd of trying to destroy two years of work to create bipartisan support for an indigenous recognition referendum.
Mr Mundine warned the Prime Minister to butt out and leave Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin to build the cross-party support for the major change and determine the question to be put to voters, after Mr Rudd this week accused Tony Abbott of delaying the process.
"Rudd has threatened bipartisanship support on the referendum with his political negative spin," Mr Mundine told The Australian yesterday.
"Macklin had been working hard with Tony Abbott and the opposition for the referendum to succeed. In one stupid brain-explosive sentence, Rudd has almost destroyed all that work.
"My message to Rudd is to shut up and get back on board and stop using indigenous people and the referendum as a political football. We're sick of being used."
On Wednesday, Mr Rudd used the 50th anniversary of the bark petitions that started the Aboriginal land rights movements to call for a bipartisan approach on the proposed referendum, challenging "Captain Negative" to settle on a position. The Opposition Leader has long promised bipartisan support for the referendum and it was Labor, under Julia Gillard, that shelved a commitment for a referendum this parliamentary term.
Northern Territory MP and Labor frontbencher Warren Snowdon yesterday questioned whether Mr Abbott was "fair dinkum" about the referendum, pointing to cooling support within the Coalition for constitutional change to recognise local government.
"I don't want to engage in a political debate around this constitutional question, but let me just point to the clear agreement we had from Tony Abbott on the wording for the local government constitutional question. He is now walking away from it," Mr Snowdon told The Australian. "What I'm concerned about is whether or not Tony Abbott is fair dinkum about this. He said he was fair dinkum about the local government question - he is now walking away from it - and as a direct result of his action that local government referendum is under threat."
Greens' spokeswoman for indigenous affairs Rachel Siewert labelled Mr Rudd's comments disappointing. "I think it's not helpful to politicise it and have it used as a political football," she said. Senator Siewert said the multi-party parliamentary committee established to advise government on the proposed constitutional change and to progress the reform had been "working together well".
"We would not like to see it degenerate further; we would like to see him (Mr Rudd) realise that was a misstep and continue on with the goodwill that was generated," she said.
The Coalition's indigenous affairs spokesman, Nigel Scullion, claimed Mr Rudd's "clumsy" attempt to politicise the issue was "a black mark on the office of the Prime Minister". "This important constitutional referendum will only succeed with a genuine multi-party approach," he said.
But Ms Macklin stressed the importance of a bipartisan approach, and defended Mr Rudd from claims he threatened the case for constitutional change by turning the issue into a political stoush. "I don't agree with that, I think the Prime Minister was yesterday, at a very, very significant event, up in Yirrkala indicating the importance of constitutional recognition to him as Prime Minister, to the Labor Party, and we know how critical it is to build a very strong campaign, right across the country," she said. "It's very important that we have a bipartisan approach."
Mr Mundine told Sky News last night he was "disgusted" by Mr Rudd's comments and warned it could threaten the prospects of a successful campaign. "My complaint was that he is not going to pick up a vote on it, but dragging this in could jeopardise the referendum," he said.
Tanya Hosch, the deputy campaign director of Recognise, an organisation lobbying for constitutional change, acknowledged the issue had long enjoyed strong support across the parliament.
"Both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have repeatedly stated their strong support.
"We'd want to see that great spirit of co-operation continue."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/kevin-rudd-ruins-good-work-on-vote-says-...
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