Inner city Melbourne, Brisbane, suburban Adelaide and Sydney among key ‘yes’ target electorates

Yes campaign targets in inner city and suburban Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne have been revealed.

Yes campaigners will seek to revive their referendum chances with a door knocking blitz across inner city and suburban electorates in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne ramping up as Anthony Albanese names the date of the vote.

Exclusive analysis of Yes23’s campaigning activities shows its 28,000 volunteers are dividing their efforts between further driving up support in yes strongholds as well as targeting battler suburbs where they believe voters are only just starting to tune into the referendum.

More than 100,000 households have been door knocked across the country to date, including in 21 federal electorates where 1000 homes or more have been approached.

It is understood the yes campaign is aiming to more than double that figure and speak to 250,000 households by the time the referendum occurs.

The Prime Minister will announce the date of the vote — widely expected to be October 14 — at an official launch event in the Adelaide working class suburb of Elizabeth on Wednesday.

Yes23 volunteers in Adelaide have door knocked more than 1000 homes each in the city electorate and neighbouring Hindmarsh. Picture: Emma Brasier

The formal announcement will then trigger a significant increase in campaign activity, with the launch of new ad campaigns and ramp up of grassroots activity at train stations and local markets.

Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin said within each electorate the areas being targeted had been identified as likely having a high proportion of undecided voters.

“It may look like we’re active in more supportive electorates, but we’re actually getting narrower targeting within the electorates themselves where we think there are swing voters,” he said.

Mr Parkin said he couldn’t describe the “typical demographic” of a volunteer as the campaign had attracted a far wider group of supporters than expected, including many who had never been involved in any political organising before.

“One of the surprising aspects for me has been seeing older people get on board as volunteers, because our research is finding they’re harder to get support for the yes side,” he said.

Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin says he can’t define a typical volunteer as the campaign is drawing in a wide range of people. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

So far the top electorates targeted in NSW include the south coast seat of Gilmore, Newcastle to the north and suburban areas of Sydney like Banks, Bradfield, Macquarie and Barton.

Teal strongholds like Warringah, Wentworth and North Sydney have all also had more than 1000 doors knocked, with efforts in those seats boosted by the remobilisation of the same volunteers that helped wipe Liberals from their once-safe electorates.

In Queensland, inner city Griffith and Ryan have had the highest rate of door knocking, with efforts also focused on Bonner, Groom, Lilley, Fairfax and in Peter Dutton’s own seat of Dickson.

In South Australia the seats of Adelaide and Hindmarsh have been the biggest target, while in Victoria inner city Melbourne seats like Wills and Macnamara have been the focus.

In addition to shoring up support in the cities, campaigners are also looking to engage with so-called “progressive no” voters, who are considering opposing the Voice as they do not believe it goes far enough to help Indigenous Australians.

Wong and Bishop unite to campaign in favour of the Voice

Former Labor and Liberal political rivals have joined forces to campaign in favour of the Voice, as Anthony Albanese urges undecided voters to back the referendum to deliver better practical outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and former long-serving senior Liberal minister Julie Bishop hit the pavement to speak to voters with Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin in Perth on Monday, while the Prime Minister made an impassioned plea for support from the no-leaning state claiming the Voice was “all upside, no downside”.

The date of the referendum — widely expected to be October 14 — will be announced by Mr Albanese at a launch event in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth on Wednesday.

Ms Bishop, who is now the Chancellor of Australian National University, said she believed the Voice proposal was an “opportunity to get things right” for Indigenous Australians.

“I’ve been in politics for 20 years, and I have observed policymakers … public servants and others, usually with the best will in the world, trying to come up with better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and we’ve failed,” she said.

ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, and Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin were out talking to voters in Perth together on Monday. Picture: NCA Newswire/Philip Gostelow

“The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people say that they believe (the Voice) will make the positive difference that we’ve been wanting to achieve for decades now.”

Ms Wong said Ms Bishop’s support for the Voice was a reminder the issue was “above politics”.

“This is an issue that’s actually about who we are as a country,” she said.

Mr Parkin said the yes campaign was focused on having “respectful and generous conversations with people across Australia” leading up to the referendum vote.

“We’ve doorknocked more than 60,000 homes already … and the overwhelming feedback that we’re getting from those interactions is that there’s a lot of generosity and there’s a lot of goodwill in the Australian population for that vote,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Anthony Albanese of being ‘dishonest’ with the public over the Voice. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition leader Peter Dutton on Monday accused the PM of being “dishonest” by not answering questions around the detail of the proposed advisory body, and warned the Voice would not deliver practical results for Indigenous communities.

“You’re going to get another layer of bureaucracy, and I think that’s why the Prime Minister’s not providing the details,” he said.

But Mr Albanese said he believed the no campaign was “undermined” by the fact Mr Dutton supported constitutional recognition and was open to forms of a legislated Voice.

“In spite of all the noise here, there is not a big gap between positions,” he said.

Mr Albanese likened the “fear campaigns” of the anti-Voice movement to those who argued against marriage equality.

“The fear campaigns have not been realised, just as the fear campaigns on the apology, the stolen generations, have also not been realised,” he said.

“This is all upside, no downside.”

Mr Albanese said the advice from a Voice would not be binding and the group did not have a “right of veto”.

“This is about recognising First Nations people in our founding document, our Constitution, and it’s about listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get better results,” he said.

Originally published as Inner city Melbourne, Brisbane, suburban Adelaide and Sydney among key ‘yes’ target electorates