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Small states’ premiers speak out on Voice as Minns, Andrews hang back
Chris Minns and Daniel Andrews run the states that could get the national vote in the Voice referendum over the line – so where are the premiers?
Almost 60 per cent of the nation’s population lives in either NSW or Victoria. But neither Andrews nor Minns – who can help secure two of the four states needed to pass the referendum, along with a national majority – had much to say about the referendum campaign on Thursday.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and NSW Premier Chris Minns.Credit: Jason South, Chris Minns
Minns said his NSW government would be “talking with the Yes 23 campaign about what we can do to lend our support for what we regard as the next iteration for social progress in Australia” – without committing to any campaign events.
Victorian premier Andrews backed the Voice during question time on Thursday because “the old way is not working” and noted “the billions of dollars being spent every year to see our closing the gap matrix get worse, not better”.
A plan for Andrews and Minns to meet on the Victoria-NSW border and attend a joint Yes event timed for the arrival of AFL legend Michael Long appears unlikely to go ahead.
Based on a swath of opinion polls, Victoria is expected to vote Yes, whereas NSW is tight and could go either way.
In Queensland, a resounding No vote is forecast by the polls and state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is currently on holiday in Italy, while new Western Australian Premier Roger Cook – whose state is also considered likely to vote No – supports the reform but has taken a low-key approach.
“People understand that this is an important and sensible proposition for the country to step forward in an act of reconciliation. So we’ll be having these conversations in the community, in the media, on the streets, on the doorsteps,” he said on Thursday.
So while all the state premiers and chief ministers signed up to back the Voice back in February, the referendum will likely come down to Australia’s two smallest states by population – Tasmania and South Australia.
On the first full day of the Voice to parliament referendum campaign, Anthony Albanese was in Tasmania – the smallest state in the country – courting the Yes-supporting Liberal premier Jeremy Rockliff.
The pair appeared side by side, along with independent MP Andrew Wilkie and a clutch of Labor MPs, less than 24 hours after Rockliff’s deputy, Michael Ferguson, revealed he would be voting No.
Rockliff, for his part, said he respected people who would be voting No, but Australians “need to acknowledge and recognise where we have failed First Nations people and Indigenous Australians”.
“The gap is too large when it comes to educational attainment, incarceration rate, health data. And we can do better,” he said.
“My conviction is very clear on support for the Yes vote.”
All the premiers and chief ministers signed up to back the Voice in February.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who was one of the stars of the Yes campaign launch in outer suburban Adelaide, said he is “optimistic, but I’m not naive” about the scale of the challenge ahead.
“I do think South Australians want to know more about it. And when they learn about the simplicity of the proposition, I think they’re increasingly inclined to vote Yes, but there’s a job to be done,” he told this masthead.
A spokesman for the No campaign said the apparent reluctance of some premiers to campaign was “explained by the fact they know this thing is on the nose”.
“Premiers can read polls. Labor Party insiders would be concerned about nailing their colours to the mast given how much trouble this proposal is in,” the spokesman said.
At the start of the formal campaign, the contrast between the efforts of Malinauskas and Rockliff on the one hand and Minns, Andrews, Palaszczuk and Cook on the other is stark.
Six-and-a-half weeks out from polling day, Albanese will be hoping the larger states find the courage and conviction that the smaller states’ leaders clearly have. Whether they do or not could prove decisive.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.