Voice to Parliament votes begin to roll in from remote communities

Australians in remote communities have begun to cast their votes in the historic Voice to Parliament referendum, while Anthony Albanese’s olive branch to the Coalition to work together if Yes wins has been dismissed as insincere.

Australians in remote communities have begun to cast their votes in the historic Voice to Parliament referendum, while Anthony Albanese’s olive branch to the Coalition to work together if Yes wins has been dismissed as insincere.

From Silverton in western NSW and Mossman Gorge in far north Queensland, to Tipperary in the Northern Territory, the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday began visiting remote areas to start collecting pre-poll votes ahead of the October 14 referendum.

Yes campaigner Noel Pearson visited Aurukun in Queensland ahead of remote polling starting there on Tuesday, describing the community as “ground zero of the Voice”.

“Like so many remote Indigenous communities Aurukun desperately needs solutions for the future of their children,” he said.

“This is a traditional community broken by bad policy and bad laws of relatively recent origin, in the last 50 years, not in colonial times.”

Yes campaigner and Cape York Indigenous leader Noel Pearson met with senior women and local residents from Aurukun in far north Queensland to discuss the Voice referendum ahead of remote polling starting for the community on September 26. Picture: Supplied

Mr Pearson said not having a say on what governments chose to do about their community, pushed residents into “welfare dependency”.

“All because the government wouldn’t listen to them,” he said.

“Their strong leaders spoke up against the introduction of alcohol in 1985 but they were not listened to.

“Aurukun needs a Voice. They’ve got the leadership, they can rebuild their community, but governments need go to listen to them.”

Election officials will travel to dozens of remote locations to collect votes in the coming days, while pre-poll voting for the general Australian population will start next week.

As voting starts, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has accused the Prime Minister of playing “political games” by offering a bipartisan committee to oversee the Voice legislation detail should the referendum pass.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton send Mr Albanese is getting desperate. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“This is an 11th hour desperation move to try and salvage the ‘yes’ vote, and I don’t believe it’s going to work because people don’t see the Prime Minister as being sincere,” Mr Dutton said during a visit to Moree in Northern NSW.

He did not rule the Coalition in or out of taking part in such a committee, but said the Opposition would “respect” the result on October 14 though he did not believe it would be a “yes”.

“I believe very strongly that the Prime Minister should have done the work in a bipartisan way right at the start before he made the initial announcement at Garma (festival), but it’s obvious that he’s now trying to desperately find ways to suggest to people that there can be a bipartisan position, when all he’s done, right from day one is divide Australians,” he said.

Mr Albanese said he would respect the outcome on October 14, but said he hoped Australians took up the opportunity to vote yes.

“A No vote means more of the same (for Indigenous people),” he said.

“And I think that we need to do better.”