Cate Blanchett scored for ABC 7.30 interview promoting Voice to Parliament

A-list actress Cate Blanchett has been criticized for plugging the Voice into Parliament during a promotional interview with the ABC.

The Australian film star expressed her support for the referendum on Tuesday night, comparing Anthony Albanese’s “modest” request to the suffragette movement.

‘Can we now imagine a world in Australia where women did not have the right to vote, where their voices were not heard? No, we can’t,” she said.

‘Parliament is a place where the important issues of the day are discussed and all points of view are listened to and the government, the parliament makes laws, they make decisions.

“Parliament makes those decisions but there is a certain voice that is never really represented in an impartial way, in an eternal way, at that table and that is an Indigenous voice and it is time we evolved to include all Australians .’

But the comments – days after it was announced that the Yes23 campaign would not use famous faces to gain support – were criticized as ‘preachy’ and ‘elite’.

Several critics online told her to ‘stick to acting’, while others said it was ‘offensive’ for her to comment on Australian politics while living abroad.

Obviously, the two-time Oscar winner lives in the UK.

She said she was upset to see “anxiety being raised for a really positive moment” and urged the Australian public to embrace the constitutional recognition of a Voice to Parliament, insisting that “it primacy of parliament is not threatened’.

Blanchett was interviewed alongside filmmaker Warwick Thornton while promoting their project, The New Boy, which debuted at the Sydney Film Festival in June.

Set in 1940s Australia, the film follows an Aboriginal boy in a remote Christian orphanage.

“We have this incredible opportunity to embrace our unique history, shared history, you know, with all its missteps and all its successes, to actually evolve into a really modern democracy, like New Zealand, like Canada,” she said.

The Australian film star expressed her support for the referendum on Tuesday evening, comparing Anthony Albanese’s ‘modest’ request to the suffragette movement

Blanchett was interviewed alongside filmmaker Warwick Thornton while promoting their project, The New Boy, which debuted at the Sydney Film Festival in June

The ABC was also criticized for the interview.

One critic said it was “a Blanchett Voice infomercial, barely disguised as a movie promotion”.

“I think we’re seeing through it. Who will they roll out next? Please stop fueling racial division and ram this stuff down our throats 24/7.”

In April, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese planned to recruit Indigenous superstars to help promote The Voice, but the campaign has since shifted its focus to ordinary Australians.

A source on the campaign said fears were raised that using celebrities would backfire and that the shift was made because Australians don’t like being told what to do.

Indigenous sports superstars such as Cathy Freeman, soccer players Adam Goodes and Johnathan Thurston and tennis legends Evonne Goolagong-Cawley and Ash Barty were hand-selected earlier this year to promote the Yes campaign.

The stars will still endorse the Voice, but they won’t feature prominently in the campaign.

The shift comes after it was revealed that activists have been given an official script on how to make an “emotional connection” with voters to win their support.

A nine-page Yes23 ‘how-to’ guide obtained by Daily Mail Australia provides 14 scenarios for tough conversations with voters and the best way to win their votes.

A referendum will be held between October and December, asking the Australian public whether a Voice to Parliament – an advisory body for Indigenous people – should be constitutionally enshrined.

Prominent Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo with a volunteer at a campaign event, above. Guides handed to Yes campaigners to win over No and indecisive voters have been revealed

The common concerns campaigners are expected to encounter include criticism that it won’t make any practical difference to Aboriginal people’s lives, that ‘no one will explain how it will work’ and fears that it won’t address real issues for Indigenous people .

The scripted Yes campaign responses aim to promote the idea that the vote is a “stepping stone on the path to justice,” will stand above “usual partisan politics,” and is an “important practical step.”

A referendum will be held between October and December, asking the Australian public whether a Voice to Parliament – an advisory body for Indigenous people – should be constitutionally enshrined.

Mr Albanese has described this as a ‘modest request from the heart’ and an ‘offer’ he hopes all Australians will embrace.