Indigenous Voice to Parliament: No campaigns to focus on ’everyday Australians’

The groups fighting for a No vote at this year’s Voice referendum won’t try to match the who’s who of Indigenous stars backing the Yes campaign, but will instead focus on everyday Australians.

The groups fighting for a No vote at this year’s Voice referendum won’t try to match the cavalcade of Indigenous superstars backing the Yes campaign, but instead focus on ordinary Australians.

Beginning next week, the two groups leading the No case — Recognise A Better Way and Fair Australia — will launch ad campaigns to persuade Australians to reject the Albanese government’s proposed referendum when it comes to a vote later this year.

They will be up against a who’s who of Aboriginal superstars as well as most of corporate Australia recruited to back the Yes case.

Led by former ALP National President turned Liberal Warren Mundine, Recognise A Better Way has travelled to remote areas collecting stories of Aboriginal Australians who will feature in a campaign to be launched in the next few days entitled “This is not my Voice”.

No campaign material highlighting Aboriginal Australians who do not want an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

“Everywhere we go the vast majority of people haven’t heard of this Voice and don’t know what it is, while some people have heard of it but say no one has come and spoken to them about it,” Mr Mundine said.

“With the people who don’t know what it is they’re not committed to yes or no.”

There was also opposition from within Indigenous communities, Mr Mundine said, which was “really coming from the traditional owners because at the moment they speak directly to government and companies but now they’re worried they will have to deal through regional voices”.

He said in his opinion “the most committed yes people were heads of organisations even though their members are planning to vote no.”

The No case plans to exploit the gap between elite opinion and ordinary Australians by also running advertisements under the slogan: ‘Your boss can’t follow you into the polling booth’ and ‘It’s OK to vote No’.

“You can replace boss with sporting code,” Mr Mundine said in reference to the fact the Yes case had locked in the NRL and AFL.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine says the vast majority of people do not know what the Voice is or how it will work. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The other group leading the No case, Fair Australia, headed by Northern Territory CLP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, will also focus on grassroots opinion.

She said that “unlike the celebs”, her group would be “driven by everyday Australians”.

“We represent the quiet Aboriginal Australians who don’t feel like they’re being heard in this debate,” she said.

But although her group is focused on convincing ordinary Australians, it has drawn on the skills of pollsters and other expert at shaping public opinion, unlike Recognise A Better Way which says it will produce its material in house.

“We’ve got the infrastructure and we’ve got the lay of the land,” Senator Price said, adding it would be arrogant of her to predict the result but saying “I’m going to go hard”.

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Originally published as Indigenous Voice to Parliament: No campaigns to focus on ’everyday Australians’