Voice referendum 2023: Gold Coast live updates, reactions
Gold Coasters and Tweed residents have resoundingly voted against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, with data revealing what happened as First Nations people respond. READ WHAT THEY SAID.
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Gold Coasters and Tweed residents have resoundingly voted against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
A seat-by-seat breakdown of the results compiled by the Australian Electoral Commission reveal the Yes campaign, failed to win over any of the region’s federal seats with is push to change the constitution and recognise Indigenous people and set up a permanent advisory body.
The final vote on the Coast saw 286,290 people voting no, while 140,957 voted yes in the referendum.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to push ahead with efforts to reduce inequality and the disadvantage experienced by the Indigenous community.
“We intend, as a government, to do what we can to close the gap,” he said on Saturday night
“To do what we can to advance reconciliation, to do what we can to listen to the First Australians.
“There is a new national awareness of … (Indigenous disadvantage). Let us channel that into a new sense of national purpose to find the answers.”
Political leaders say they were not surprised by the outcome, with the Yes campaign not targeting the city, while several Indigenous community figures contacted by the Bulletin on Sunday declined to discuss the outcome or did not respond to requests for comment.
Indigenous boxer Nathaniel May, originally from Bunbury in Western Australia was on the Gold Coast competing over the weekend and said he was “disappointed” his people would not have a Voice to Parliament.
The 28year-old junior lightweight fight said a win for the Yes vote would have given his Nyoongar people “a better future”.
The seat-by-seat breakdown shows the percentage of No votes was higher in Gold Coast seats than the national result, in which No triumphed with 60.48 per cent to Yes on 39.52
In Forde, which takes in Logan and the city’s most northern suburbs, the No vote secured 71.8 per cent.
In Fadden, in the Gold Coast’s north, No won 73.5 per cent of the vote
In McPherson, No secured 65.65 per cent while in Moncrieff in the city’s central suburbs No won 69.01 per cent.
Moncrieff MP Angie Bell said there were “no winners”.
Southport MP Rob Molhoek said the referendum could not be the end of the conversation about Indigenous inequality.
“We have to focus on the issues of First Nations people and what they are dealing with and it has to be about closing the gap going forward,” he said.
“The results did not surprise me but I did find it disappointing because we could have simply acknowledged their place in the constitution and let the parliament do its work.”
Queensland overall recorded the lowest support nationwide for the Voice, securing just 31.5 per cent.
In the northern NSW seat of Richmond, which takes in the Tweed, No secure 56.69 per cent.
Richmond Labor MP Justine Elliot thanked the community for its efforts.
“The people have spoken and the referendum was defeated (but) her in our electorate of Richmond we’ve had one of the highest ‘Yes’ results of any regional area,” she said.
“The journey doesn’t end unless you stop walking – and tomorrow we keep walking together on the path of reconciliation.
“I’ve been so proud to have worked side-by-side with so many in our community throughout the campaign.”
VIDEO: Gold Coasters cast final votes in historic Voice referendum
It was a Gold Coast divided heading to the polls on Saturday.
Despite voters keeping a calm head here on the Glitter Strip, voting for the referendum on the Voice to parliament reflected a gaping chasm between the yes and no sides of that divide.
The Broadbeach voting centre was one of the city’s busiest throughout Saturday, with lines snaking through the car park well into the afternoon. Even with most interstate voters being sent to the central polling booth, volunteers kept the centre running like a well-oiled machine.
It was campaigning base of choice for Denis Benson, who said he and wife Judy felt so strongly about the No vote that they volunteered at a polling booth for the first time.
Mr Benson said he voted against the Voice because he did not believe it would really service Indigenous communities in need.
“I don’t understand how you can make something better by making the same mistake over and over again,” he said.
“It’s being made by both sides of parliament, in fact, so that’s why I’m definitely against the Yes vote.
“I am for something that will benefit the real people who live out in the bush in remote areas, rather than fuelling salaries in big capital cities.”
All was quiet at the Labrador State School polling centre by Saturday afternoon, with only a few late voters trickling in to cast their last-minute ballots.
While some married couples were unanimous in their voting - Yes, in this case - fellow resident Coral Drouyn said she and her husband usually agreed to “leave politics off the table”.
The city’s Indigenous elders are among those urging voters to say Yes to the Voice, saying today’s referendum was the step forward they had been waiting for since that of 1967.
Handing out Yes flyers at the Varsity Lakes Community Centre polling booth, Aunty Joyce Summers said the time for recognition had come.
“Everyone’s pretty calm here – we’ve been having some pretty big conversations with the family though,” she said.
“I was born into a country that was basically racist, because the climate that I was born into, we didn’t have any rights.
“Some of my children were born into the same climate – they didn’t have any rights until the 1967 referendum.
“It gave us some rights, but not completely all the rights that we really need to level the playing field, so to speak.”
Her daughter Estelle Weeks was campaigning alongside her mother and said they would “continue on” if the Voice to Parliament failed.
“We have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and get up and find another strategy.”
The Varsity Lakes voting centre was one of the Coast’s most vibrant, with a sausage sizzle and an art sale to draw in voters.
It was a tense drive to the polling booth for mother and daughter duo Ruth and Grace O’Sullivan after they discovered they had opposing views on the Voice to Parliament.
Ruth said she was definitely voting Yes after speaking about the referendum and its importance with her First Nations friends.
“(Also) for the wrong injustices that have occurred – I think it’s time that we need to put things right,” she said.
Her daughter Grace said she knew her mum would be voting in favour of the Voice, but would not be swayed from her decision to vote No.
“I just feel like it was a waste of money … this money could have been used for so much more that we are dealing with – living, being a mum and everything at the moment,” she said.
Hundreds of people were reportedly in line at the Currumbin State School polling booth in the region’s south as voting opened on Saturday morning.
Bundjalung woman and Yes voter Trish Borg said it was calmer than other Gold Coast booths, with no obvious hostility between voting camps.
Also casting their Yes vote at Currumbin was Australian Indigenous Doctors Association CEO and proud Wiradjuri woman Donna Burns.
“I’m proudly voting yes – not only for the work of our elders, but certainly for the future,” Ms Burns said.
“This will make a huge impact to our hearts, souls, (and) wellbeing, but it will also make a material difference to health outcomes.”
Opinions on the referendum have been far from unified leading up to the final day of voting.
Identical twins Kerrie and Kathleen Simpson said they did not realise they were voting on opposite sides until they got to the Southport Community Centre on Tuesday.
Kerrie said after voting: “(Kathleen) said, ‘I’m in-between’, and I said, ‘What are you talking about in-between?’ I’m so strong in my thoughts.”
The Australian Electoral Commission also confirmed earlier this week that it was escalating official complaints and concerns regarding conspiracies being spread by No campaigners at the Broadbeach pre-polling booth.
Elsewhere in Queensland, politicians have been among the high-profile identities casting their votes in the historic referendum, which is the country’s first in 24 years.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers joined his constituents in line at Springwood Central State School, urging Australians to “do a very Australian thing” and vote Yes.
Polling earlier this week by UK-based data company Focaldata revealed just three Queensland electorates – Brisbane, Griffith, and Ryan – were likely to return a majority Yes vote.
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