Voice to Parliament No campaigner Gary Johns responds to criticism over CPAC comments

Voice to Parliament No campaigner Gary Johns has defended comments he made at a conservative political conference over the weekend after they were attacked by politicians across the spectrum.

The former Labor MP and President of No campaign group Recognise A Better Way was attacked for comments he made at the CPAC conference in Sydney in which he spoke about the need for Indigenous Australians to learn English and claim some Indigenous Australians lived in a “stupor”.

“As Dave Price, Jacinta’s Dad, has said to me often enough: If you want a voice learn English. That’s your voice,” Mr Johns said during his CPAC speech.

“And yet, we have conspired through all sorts of means to keep Aboriginal people out on collective title, outside the economy, being Aboriginal. And I need to tell you, that being Aboriginal is not enough. It’s not your life. If you sit there outside the economy and playing out the role of an Aboriginal person, you will die young.

“…If you’re not trying to get those people either out of that remote community or out of the stupor in which they live, or give them the tools to allow them to adapt to life in the modern world, the world we inherited, then you’re doing wrong.”

The remarks were described as “nasty rubbish” by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, while NSW Liberal MP Matt Kean accused Mr Johns of showing “complete disrespect” to his fellow no campaigners.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also weighed in when asked about the issue during a press conference.

“I am concerned about a whole range of comments that Gary Johns has made, not just on the weekend but over a long period of time, when it comes to a failure to show any respect for Indigenous Australians,” the prime minister said.

“The fact that he has been given a significant role in the No campaign is of concern.”

Speaking to Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt on Monday night, Mr Johns rejected the criticism.

“I don’t even know what the disrespect thing means,” he said.

“I’m making the point that Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton, Warren Mundine, Jacinta Price all speak, read and write English – and that is a key to their success. But there are Aboriginal children today who cannot do that, and yet their grandparents can.

“What’s happened in the last generation or two such that some Aboriginal children mainly in remote, very remote communities, cannot speak sufficiently well English, or read it, or write it.

“And if you can’t do that you’re literally locked out of the good life.”

Mr Johns accused his critics of attempting to shut down the debate because they couldn’t answer the simple question about the lack of English language skills in remote communities.

“See the left are very good at closing down debate. The Yes case is very good at closing down debate,” he said.

“The yes case does not want to answer the simple question: Why can’t some Aboriginal children read, write and speak English? Why can’t they integrate into our open society, Just as Noel Pearson has, just as Marcia Langton has, just as Jacinta and Warren have?

Mr Johns also defended his statement that “being Aboriginal is not enough”, telling Bolt that “we can all have an identity. It doesn’t pay the rent (and) doesn’t get you through school.”

“What did our parents tell us? That you had to study and work hard and create your own world,” Mr Johns said.

“Whereas what the intellectual elites are saying to poor Aboriginal people – in particular, living in remote (areas) – is that it’s okay, you can just stay there you can live a previous life that we believe that you should living.”

The former Labor MP said there wouldn’t be an issue with Indigenous Australians living an alternative lifestyle if it wasn’t leading to such negative consequences.

“It’s none of my business, a person’s beliefs, or their many languages, so long as they have the English language so that they can participate in the Australian society. That’s all we require,” Mr Johns said.

“But they’re dying young. They’re leading awful lives, by and large, and it’s because we haven’t reminded them that they need that basic infrastructure, the intellectual infrastructure that says: kid you got to go to school, you have to make this personal investment, or otherwise you’re not going to make it in Australia.

“So I’m very upset at the Yes case, and our dear prime minister, who think that they can just close down this debate and somehow solve the problems that they – this Aboriginal industry – have caused.

“In two generations, Aboriginal children have lost the capacity to participate in the Open Society.”