Marcia Langton to seek legal advice over Dutton post quoting ‘absolutely not true’ voice headline

Marcia Langton says she has been “lied about” in comments about the voice referendum, asking opposition leader Peter Dutton to remove a social media post that misquoted her criticism of the no campaign.

The prominent Indigenous academic and advocate says she will seek legal advice over Dutton’s post on Instagram, which wrongly claims she had criticised voters opposing the Indigenous voice referendum. The same headline was shared by fellow Coalition members Angus Taylor, Sarah Henderson, Andrew Hastie, Colin Boyce and Jonathon Duniam, as well as the Liberal party of Australia’s main account.

“Today, I will have to go to a lawyer and ask a lawyer to write to Peter Dutton requesting that he remove this post from his Instagram because it is absolutely not true,” Langton told Radio National on Wednesday.

“I deny it absolutely. There is a recording of what I said at the Bunbury meeting, and what I said is very clear.”

Langton conceded some no voters had “legitimate concerns that need to be addressed and clarified”, but stood by her claims that the no campaign was propagating “stupid and racist claims”.

“I certainly was not calling no voters racist, but I was explaining very carefully, how [the no campaign’s] fear tactics work,” she said.

Langton is a member of the government’s advisory groups on the voice and co-author of an influential co-design report commissioned under the former Coalition government. She was scathing of an article published in the Australian newspaper, based on an earlier article in the Bunbury Herald, which she said misquoted her comments to a referendum event at Edith Cowan University on Sunday.

“Every time the no cases raises one of their arguments, if you start pulling it apart you get down to base racism. I’m sorry to say it but that’s where it lands, or just sheer stupidity,” Langton was quoted as saying.

Despite her comments specifically relating to the no case and the no campaign, they were initially reported in the Australian under the headline “Langton brands No voters ‘racist, stupid’”. Later online versions of the story, as well as the article printed in Wednesday’s newspaper, clarified that she was talking about the no case, not its voters.

Langton claimed the Australian’s article had been changed three times.

In parliament’s question time on Tuesday, shortly after the initial article’s publication, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley referred to the article and claimed Langton had “accused no voters of opposing the referendum because of ‘base racism or sheer stupidity’”.

On Tuesday afternoon Dutton posted an Instagram graphic referring to the Australian newspaper’s original headline, sharing a picture of Langton with the newspaper’s logo superimposed above the headline “No voters branded ‘racist, stupid’ by prominent voice campaigner Marcia Langton”.

The same post was shared by multiple Coalition members.

Dutton’s post, published before Langton’s denial was reported, was still online as of Wednesday morning. His office was contacted for comment on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but has not responded to questions about whether Dutton plans to remove the post.

Similar posts were shared by Advance, the group behind the Fair Australia no campaign.

Speaking on Radio National, Langton heavily criticised the depiction of her comments by the Coalition and some media reporting.

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“It’s deeply disappointing to me that I was misreported and lied about by a national masthead, the Australian [newspaper] … and on Sky News and in the Daily Mail. And other outlets should ensure that comments – my comments, anybody’s comments – are reported accurately,” Langton said.

“That was clearly not the case yesterday. It’s not good enough and they should do better.”

News Corp was contacted for comment. In a statement, Kelvin Healey, editor of the Australian, said: “The Australian stands by its reporting of Professor Langton’s comments.”

Langton told Radio National: “I am absolutely convinced that most Australians are not racist.”

She went on to say the yes campaign should seek to answer queries raised by people opposing the voice, but stood by her criticisms of the no campaign group.

“There’s a lot of work to do both with people who have legitimate concerns that need to be addressed and clarified,” she said.

“And also those people who are simply confused by the very base and, frankly, stupid and racist claims being made by the no campaign to frighten Australians into believing that the referendum will result in damage to the Australian social and democratic fabric.”

Ley doubled down on her criticisms of Langton’s comments, despite the academic’s clarification.

“Now we hear Professor Langton’s defence of her remarks appears to be that she didn’t call the people in the no campaign racist or stupid, she called the arguments at the heart of the no campaign racist and stupid. Well, that doesn’t wash with me. I reject that as an explanation,” she said at a doorstop interview.

In a Sky News interview Ley claimed: “This sounds very much like an insult to people who are in all good conscience considering, or have made up their mind, to vote no.”