Osher Günsberg slammed for "insulting Australians" over Voice defeat
Osher Günsberg has been slammed online after sharing his thoughts on the Voice to Parliament defeat, saying Aussies were "manipulated" into voting No.
In the final episode of Q+A for 2023, the TV personality said that Australians should be "asking questions about who flooded the zone (with misinformation)", leading to a landslide defeat of the referendum.
A tense exchange kicked off between the panellists when another guest, Liberal party activist Charlotte Mortlock, said the country needed to come together after the referendum defeat.
Günsberg said during the course of the campaign, Australia went "from mostly wanting to do it" to "Oh my God the UN's coming to take my back yard".
He said Australians should be "terrified of how quickly we were manipulated as a country".
#QandA: What is the next step for Indigenous Australians, after the Voice referendum? pic.twitter.com/KgSoHkRp1d
— ABC News (@abcnews) November 27, 2023
"We're really lucky that it wasn't during a khaki election," he said, referring to an election held at a time of war.
Ms Mortlock defended the Coalition and No voters, saying, "It's been such a divisive year... I do absolutely think that there is work that we can do to in a constructive way that is going to really unite the country and that's what we all have to focus on."
Günsberg was quick to question the Liberal party's real motives behind their No campaign, asking whether she felt Opposition Leader Peter Dutton really wanted to unite the nation.
"I do. I think the question really is the how," Ms Mortlock replied.
Günsberg said, "I don't believe he really wants to."
Günsberg and the ABC were both later slammed online for how the program went with some calling the program "insufferable".
Others were quick to poke fun at Osher's impressive reality TV résumé, saying, "After the way Osher insulted mainstream common-sense Aussies I will never watch Bachelor again."
Image credits: Q+A