PM Anthony Albanese to launch official yes campaign for the Voice in Adelaide

SA’s strong history of supporting progressive reforms will be key to the national referendum on a Voice to parliament, say yes vote leaders, as the PM prepares to set the date.

The date for the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament is expected to be announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the official launch for the yes campaign in Adelaide on Wednesday.

South Australia is one of three states, including Tasmania and Western Australia, which will be heavily targeted in the campaign because of their importance in the overall outcome.

Ahead of his visit, Indigenous leaders and yes campaigners Noel Pearson and Rachel Perkins were at the Adelaide Railway Station on Tuesday handing out flyers.

Mr Pearson said SA had a strong history of supporting progressive reforms for Indigenous people and would play a “critical” role in influencing Australians in other states and territories to vote yes.

Aboriginal Affairs minister Kyam Maher and Indigenous leader Noel Pearson held a press conference on the Voice referendum at Adelaide Railway Station. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

“I’m anxious and excited about the announcement of the date. We will then have six weeks to have conversations with Australians about the importance of this reform and the opportunity that it represents for all of us,” he said.

“South Australia is absolutely critical to this referendum as it always has been to any progressive reform in this country.

“As a boy in a mission in Cape York Peninsula, my childhood hero was Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls, the first Aboriginal governor of any state in this country.

“And I was bewildered. What kind of state would appoint one of our people as the governor? Well, South Australia was the state.”

Rumours suggest the date for the referendum will be on October 14.

It will be the first referendum in Australia since the country voted on becoming a republic in 1999, which was unsuccessful, with 45.13 per cent voting yes and 54.87 per cent voting no.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher with Rachel Perkins in Adelaide on Tuesday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

The question Australians will be asked to vote on to change the constitution later this year to include an Indigenous Voice to parliament is:

“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

“Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

Ms Perkins said the “important thing to remember” was that a majority of Indigenous Australians supported a Voice.

“Indigenous people from all around the country, more than 80 per cent, have asked our fellow Australians to stand with us in this moment,” she said.

“South Australia was the birthplace of the original referendum in 1967. So we are standing on the shoulders of great people.

“The first meeting was held here and that history we are very conscious of at this time.”

The official launch will be held at Elizabeth in Adelaide’s northern suburbs and is expected to see hundreds of yes supporters there to raise awareness about the upcoming referendum.

The location choice confirms South Australia’s status as a referendum decider, with both sides of the Voice debate certain the result in the comparatively smaller state will determine the overall outcome.