Indigenous Voice to Parliament march reaches Whitsunday and Mackay regions

Rallies that have been held all around the country in support of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament have reached the Whitsundays and Mackay regions. Will you be voting Yes or No? Vote in our poll

Yes campaigners have hit the streets in Mackay and the Whitsundays to rally support.

Rallies that have been held all around the country this weekend in support of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, have reached the Whitsundays and Mackay regions as the referendum is less than a month away.

On October 14, all Australians are invited to answer the following question:

“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?”

A March in Mackay was held from 11:30am at Bluewater Quay where over 100 people came together, while more than 10,000 people came together across Australia on the same day.

Vote for Yes march in Mackay on September 17. Picture: Contributed

Mackay for Yes founder Peter McCallum said people at the march came from all walks of life.

“We started the campaign two weeks ago, and we were only a few people, but now there’s dozens of us,” he said.

Vote for Yes march in Mackay on September 17. Picture: Contributed

In the Whitsundays, a stall was installed at the Airlie Beach markets on Saturday September 16 with campaigners keen to start conversations.

“We were told we weren’t allowed to approach people, we had to wait for people to approach us,” volunteer Debra Barrow said.

Ms Barrow said of the people who approached them, most of them weren’t locals.

On Sunday, a few volunteers had decided not to head down to Mackay for the march but to organise a small sitting on the corner of Paluma Rd and Shute Harbour Rd with some signs instead.

Ms Barrow said the goal was to give the Voice more visibility in the Airlie Beach/Cannonvale area, so people would be faced with the question more directly.

“They are lots of people who just don’t know about the referendum, who don’t know what the key questions are about,” she said.

“If you don’t know, ask somebody, do some reading,”

“You have a significant power in your vote, but you have to engage with it”

Vote for Yes volunteers were seen at the Airlie Beach markets. Picture: Contributed

WHAT WOULD THE REFERENDUM INTRODUCE?

The Voice was presented to the nation five years ago on 26 May 2017 by delegates to the First Nations National Constitutional Convention that took place near Uluru.

On August 30 2023, a referendum date was announced to take place on October 14.

The referendum would introduce in the constitution a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice which would “make representations to the parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

The parliament would “have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures”.

A co-design report made by Professor Tom Calma and Professor Dr Marcia Langton has been written to try to explain how a Voice would function. This is only a projected approach.

It proposes a National Voice made of 24 members with two from each state, five from remote communities, two from the Torres Strait and one representing the Torres Strait in the mainland.

There would also be 35 local voices around the country representing districts, with each Voice being individually designed by the community they represent.

Visit the Australian Electoral Commission for information on enrolment and voting. You can find more information about the Yes and No arguments on the official referendum pamphlet.