Leaders of the Indigenous Voice to parliament movement say its rejection by a majority of Australian voters was a “shameful act” from which nothing positive can be interpreted for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Breaking their silence a week on from the landmark referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition, the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart said they were still grieving the 61 per cent No vote, and felt acutely “the repudiation of our peoples and the rejection of our efforts to pursue reconciliation in good faith”.