The Voice NT: Rolling coverage of Northern Territory voting
Even before Northern Territory polls closed, Australia had said no to the Voice to Parliament. FOLLOW LIVE
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Polls are open in the Northern Territory as the Voice referendum enters its final hours.
According to the final YouGov poll carried out ahead of the referendum, Australians opposed to the proposal were ahead of the ‘Yes’ camp by 56 per cent to 38 per cent.
Follow the coverage live as the NT News team delivers coverage from around Solomon and Lingiari – the only two federal electorates in the Northern Territory.
Polls close in NT as early vote suggest No victory
Australia has voted No the referendum before Northern Territory polls closed.
Sky News Chief Election Analyst Tom Connell has called it - Australia has voted no. Early results in inner city electorates were not strong enough to make up for huge No votes in the regions.
Sky News called South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania for No. Host Kieran Gilbert described it as a “wipeout”.
Anthony Albanese will now need to look to find a united path forward for the country after the historic Voice referendum put addressing Indigenous disadvantage firmly on the national agenda.
Millions of Australians cast their ballots in the referendum to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the constitution on Saturday, and as the counting began attention turned to the Prime Minister’s next steps.
Defiantly optimistic until the very last vote was cast, Mr Albanese made an impassioned plea for support for the proposal first presented by a delegation of Indigenous Australians via the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.
- Clare Armstrong and David Mills
Intervention would never have happened with a Voice: Fyles
The widely-criticised Northern Territory intervention would not have happened if there had been an Indigenous Voice to parliament, the NT Chief Minister has said.
Supporting the Yes camp at a polling station in her Darwin electorate of Nightcliff, Natasha Fyles said “the Voice would be huge for the Northern Territory”.
“Things like the intervention wouldn’t have happened if you had that body sitting there looking at government policy,” Ms Fyles said.
“I’m confident Territorians understand this.
“With a high percentage of our Territorians being First Nations people we understand the issues and importance of the Voice so I feel that will be reflected in the ballot box.
“From the conversations I’ve had people definitely understand that this is something that’s come from Indigenous people and from the Uluru Statement from the Heart.”
Ms Fyles called for the territories to be given equal voting rights and powers to the states.
“It’s an example of why the Territory should be a state so that we are equal with the other jurisdictions,” she said.
“We’re our own independent people and a long way from Canberra, and it certainly should be reflected.”
‘Unclear’ or ‘a distraction’: Voter sentiment leans No at Bees Creek
Voters in the northern tip of the vast Territory electorate of Lingiari were largely leaning towards voting “No” according to a snap exit poll conducted by the NT News on Saturday.
Lise Lelou, who moved to Australia from France 33 years ago, was still unsure which way she would go as she arrived at the Bees Creek polling booth about lunchtime.
“I’m still not exactly certain because it’s a little bit confusing when you hear both answers from different people,” she said.
“It’s very interesting from what I gather from the Uluru (Statement) but I don’t think it’s very clear, totally clear, Yes or No.
“I’m French, from France, and I don’t think it’s correct to make it compulsory because I think only people who actually know what they’re talking about should actually be asked to give an answer.”
Meanwhile Bees Creek local Leonardo Escobar said while he’d rather not say which way he voted, the referendum was a “distraction” from more important issues.
“The more important thing is what’s going on in the Middle East area, rising inflation, all that sort of stuff, this is just a distraction to keep everybody divided against each other,” he said.
‘Ask your heart’: Paul Kelly to perform in Alice Springs
Prominent Yes campaigner Paul Kelly is in Alice Springs for a free concert at Anzac Oval.
The Aussie music legend said it was a “fitting place to be this weekend”, sharing a photo with Indigenous filmmaker Rachel Perkins.
“Indigenous Australians have a special place in our nation derived from their deep history of looking after this land for over 60,000 years,” Kelly posted on social media.
“The question tomorrow is: are we prepared to give them the fair go that has been denied them for 250 years? Or keep the status quo and keep them out in the cold. Ask your heart.”
It’s about ‘allowing us to have a voice’: Nova Peris
Former senator and Olympian Nova Peris OAM posted a video from Darwin, Larrakia country, calling for the undecided to join her in voting Yes.
“This referendum is a very simple process, it’s about us correcting history, putting the First Nations on the (nation’s) birth certificate,” she said.
“For a couple of hundred years we’ve been subjected to some pretty brutal policies - my mother and grandparents were all subject to the Aborigines Protection Act.”
“It’s allowing us to have a voice on the matters that pertain to us.”
Territory ‘should be a state’ as vote goes to national tally
Early queues at Parap primary school had receded to an orderly trickle within an hour of polling opening for the Constitutional Voice to Parliament referendum.
The polling station was one of 50 open today across the Northern Territory and also Cocos Islands which is counted in the seat of Lingiari.
But Territorians – like their ACT cousins – are institutionally disenfranchised because the votes are only included in the national count but not the state count, which require the support of a majority of jurisdictions.
Solomon MP Luke Gosling said the disadvantage would be addressed if the Territory was a state.
“We should be a state anyway so hopefully that can progress in the near future and then we can be automatically included in the state count,” he said.
“This is an example where something that’s very important to the future of our nation we haven’t got a full say in and we definitely want to see that in the future.”
He said the Northern Territory would be strongly represented in the Voice to Parliament if the Yes vote is successful.
He acknowledged the largely civil manner in which the Voice debate has been conducted in the NT.
“Territorians understand that it’s their decision to make and have read up on both arguments and are making the best interests for the future of the Territory and the country,” he said.
“Territorians are generous people, if they’ve been convinced this is a good change then we’ll see a positive outcome from the Territory.
“Regardless of where the national vote goes, I think it will be great if Territorians have got behind Aboriginal people in the Territory.”
NT Australian Electoral officer Geoff Bloom said before a 1977 referendum fixed the anomaly, the two mainland territories didn’t even count in the national vote.
“I haven’t heard of any immediate change to that, but our votes are very important and we’re encouraging everyone in the Northern Territory to have their say.”
Mr Bloom said 55,000 of the estimated 150,000 enrolled NT voters cast their ballots early, about the same as at last year’s federal election.
Regardless of the closeness of the count, the AEC won’t call the result tonight.
Some eastern states will have been counting for 90 minutes when booths close here.
He said the campaign was largely civil and similar to other elections held here.
“In some other parts of the country there have been some incidents but we haven’t had that here in the Northern Territory,” he said.
Polling booths close across the NT at 6pm.
‘Today’s the day’: McCarthy campaigns in NSW
Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy spent Saturday morning campaigning from Redfern, the inner-Sydney area synonymous with Indigenous activism for rights and self-determination.
“Today’s the day,” she captioned the video.
“Let’s say ‘Yes’ to recognition, listening and a better future for First Nations Australians.”
Hope for silent voters as Lingiari MP votes in Alice Springs
Labor’s Marion Scrymgour cast her vote in Alice Springs about 10.30am Saturday, telling Sky News she was optimistic “there are many silent voters out there … and I’m hoping that they will vote Yes”.
“It’s time that this country embraced its Aboriginal people and said ‘Yeah, we hear you, and we see you, and now we want you to be part of what we think is the best country in the world’,” she said.
The first Indigenous woman elected to NT parliament in 2001, Ms Scrymgour now serves as Federal member for Lingiari – Australia’s largest geographical electorate that covers almost all of the Territory outside of Darwin.
She said she believed the Voice could help bring practical improvements to the lives of Indigenous Territorians.
“Whenever you involve Aboriginal people in policy, in decision making, to make a difference, we do see a change happening – and this is what’s really important about this referendum,” Ms Scrymgour said, flanked by a group of Yes supporters.
“We live in a great country and all of us are hoping that a vote for Yes is a vote to challenge the status quo that we can’t keep doing the same thing and thinking that we’re going to get a different result. So this is an important step forward for this country.
“We’ve just gotta keep the hope.”
The polling station in Alice Springs Todd Mall was bustling early in the morning, with a line of voters snaking around the corner.
More than a dozen Yes campaigners enjoyed a sole run of last minute advocacy efforts outside the voting station before a couple of the No camp rolled in an hour after polls opened.
Polls open across Darwin with disturbing lack of snags at city booths
Two booths, no sausages but plenty of democracy in action.
The Smith St voting centre is open to registered interstate voters only, with Territory locals’ closest CBD option on Cavenagh St at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School.
With no lines it means you’re in and out quickly, but there was no democracy sausage to be smelled.
There is, however, a snag on offer at Parap.
‘Nastiness from Yes’: Jacinta Price on ‘exhausting’ campaign as Aussies head to polls
As the gruelling Voice to Parliament campaign draws to a close, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has reflected on the “exhausting” and at times nasty debate surrounding the most significant proposed change to the country’s constitution in decades.
Almost six months after being thrust into the spotlight with her appointment as shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Price is on the precipice of leading the No campaign to a historic victory, Sky News reports.
However, it has not come without sacrifices and personal toll with the Indigenous Senator from Alice Springs increasingly becoming the subject of racist attacks.
Ahead of polls opening, Senator Price told SkyNews.com.au the challenges and divisiveness of the campaign emanated from the Yes camp.
The former deputy mayor of Alice Springs said the mounting negative attacks had begun to take their toll, but they showed how Voice supporters were becoming “frustrated” that the proposal was likely heading for defeat.
Read the full story on Sky News here.
NT election pledge over Voluntary Assisted Dying scheme
Labor promises to present a bill on Territorians right to die within the next parliamentary term if re-elected — but the opposition remains cautious about committing to a Voluntary Assisted Dying bill.
Unregulated land clearing could lead to ‘free for all’ habitat loss, research warns
Environment laws at both the territory and federal level are failing to protect the Northern Territory’s tropical savannas and the threatened species that live there, new research has found.