Voice referendum 2023: Where to vote on the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast and Noosa voters have had their say, with counting just minutes away for the Voice referendum. Stay tuned for live coverage of results as the come in here.

The day has arrived for the nation to have its say on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.

The Sunshine Coast Daily and Courier Mail will have you covered with all the results as they come in tonight, on our live blog here.

To find out where to vote on Saturday, October 14, click here.

SUNSHINE COAST, NOOSA LIVE

Final moments:

Sunshine Coast and Noosa polling booths are now just minutes away from closing in the referendum and the results will soon begin to flow in.

Sunshine Coast Reconciliation group chair Fiona McGill said voting day in the region had been “very nice” and respectful, as she personally travelled to three booths in the hinterland.

“It has been very polite and respectful, we haven’t had any of the nasty comments we have had previously,” Ms McGill said.

Ms McGill said she noticed more ‘yes’ votes cast on Saturday than during the pre-polling.

“Lots more yeses than we had with pre-poll, pre-poll tends to be a lot of older people, whereas today we had a lot of families with young kids, more of those people were asking for the ‘yes’ how to vote card,” Ms McGill said.

Similarly, a spokesman for the ‘no’ campaign on the Sunshine Coast said across the region the campaign had remained positive and civil.

“The beauty of today and the last two weeks of polling is that people have been able to express their views on the ballot papers,” they said.

They said across the seven booths they had attended campaigning for the ‘no’ vote, people had been telling campaigners the referendum was not a priority for them.

“People haven’t been feeling this a priority issue, generally speaking it is just not a priority for voters, and their focus is on cost-of-living” they said.

Peregian Springs man Jake Liaropoulos, voting at the Noosa Baptist Church Hall in Noosaville, said he was voting no as he felt the public had not been told what voting yes “actually does”.

“We’ve just been told as an agenda and we haven’t actually been notified the difference that voting yes actually makes,” he said.

Noosa Heads resident Alison Calvert, also voting at the Noosaville booth, said she voted yes because “I think that it’s fair to Aboriginal people that they have a say on issue that affect them and it’s that simple”.

Midday:

Sunshine Coast voters have spoken of the challenges they faced in sifting through the information, and in many cases misinformation, throughout the Voice campaign.

Palmwoods resident Heather Black said she spent a lot of time on Friday researching online to try and educate herself on what exactly it was she was voting on, before casting her ballot on Saturday morning.

She said it was the first vote she’d had to undertake that level of research on.

“For some reason for me it wasn’t as obvious what yes means and what no means,” the 44-year-old said from the Coolum Beach Uniting Church Hall booth.

“The decision for me was quite hard to come by because I felt I wasn’t educated enough about making the decision.”

Campaigners out at Coolum.

She said usually there were prominent flyers and Facebook posts during election campaigns but she felt there had been less material readily available throughout the referendum campaign.

Also in Coolum, 24-year-old Louis Tissington-Weston voted in his first referendum.

He said there had been “a lot” of contradictory opinions on the matter, but the decision for him hadn’t been too hard.

Mr Tissington-Weston said there hadn’t been as large a change as he would’ve liked, but he felt it was a step in the right direction, prompting him to vote yes.

He said he’d still had to educate himself as it hadn’t been clear to him what he was voting for until late in the campaign.

Louis Tissington-Weston at Coolum booth.

“I found almost no information up until the last month, and then it was a lot of information that almost seemed relatively biased in one direction or the other that didn’t have any clarity or consistency around it, so that made it really difficult.

“I didn’t understand what I was voting for up until the last two weeks I’d say, and then I was able to make an opinion from what I was able to gather.

“But I still had to research, I had to look, it wasn’t clear.”

Baringa resident Kade Abdy was more certain when he went to vote at the Baringa State Primary School booth in Caloundra South.

“I kind of feel like Australia’s missing something, so it’s just probably like another piece to the puzzle sort of thing.

“I’m 100 per cent yes on it.”

Heather Black at Coolum booth.

Caloundra local Peter Kane said he didn’t have enough information on the full picture to make a decision, when he turned up to cast his ballot at the CCSA Hall.

“There’s not enough information I don’t think about what’s going to happen,” he said.

“I know it’s the vibe, you know, it’s the start of the process, but I don’t know where the process is going to land.”

9am: Early birds are out and about in Baringa, in Caloundra South on Saturday morning to cast their ballots.

Campaigners for both sides greeted voters at the booths just before 8am.

Baringa resident Renata Grzesk said she voted no because she sees the voice as divisive among Australians.

“This won’t bring the nation together,” Ms Grzesk said.

What was pitched as a vessel to heal has caused friction across the nation as the issue became highly politicised.

Stay tuned to our coverage here for all the latest across the Sunshine Coast and further afield ahead of what will be a historic day for the country whichever way the result falls.

Check out where your local politicians stand on the issue here.

Read what Des Houghton had to say on the referendum here or catch up on Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ thoughts here.

Earlier this week prominent Yes campaigner Noel Pearson called for the Sunshine Coast to vote for the change, arguing the region had “nothing to lose” and in doing so would pay homage to the area’s rich Indigenous history.

No campaigners, including Fisher MP Andrew Wallace argue the Voice is divisive and fails to bridge the societal gaps intended.

Read more on that story here.

Stay tuned as we keep you updated here with all the major events across the region and live results as they come in on Saturday night.