‘Most important’: No leader’s response to remote Voice vote as both sides stumble over next steps

Warren Mundine has responded to remote Indigenous communities consistently returning high Yes votes in the referendum.

A high proportion of Indigenous Australians may have voted for the referendum but a leading No campaigner says the nation’s emphatic rejection is the “most important”.

Australians in every state and territory but the ACT voted against the proposal for constitutional recognition through an Indigenous advisory body, the Voice.

The Northern Territory and the seat of Lingiari – which spans most of the territory outside of Darwin – both voted No.

But data from remote teams deployed into Indigenous communities in the Top End showed all but one booth returning high Yes results.

Asked about the data, No campaign spokesman Warren Mundine stressed the importance of the overall result tat favoured the No camp 61 per cent to 39 per cent.

“The Australian public, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, were quite emphatic,” he told Sky News.

Leading No campaigner Warren Mundine stressed the nation’s emphatic rejection of the Voice Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

“We look at some of the regional areas and that where there are large Aboriginal populations and they voted No.

“So, you know, we can crisscross and argue about these things all day, but the most important thing, it was an emphatic no.

“No states supported this and even the Northern Territory didn’t support it.”

Mr Mundine said the focus must turn to the remote and regional communities and called for an audit of spending on Indigenous programs in the referendum wash-up.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government had no “issue with transparency” but was “really confident” about the manner funds were being spent.

It comes as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton sought to clarify he had not walked away from a promise to symbolically recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution just 24 hours after telling reporters he had shelved the plan.

On Monday, Mr Dutton said the Coalition’s policy was being reviewed by its Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and senator Kerrynne Liddle.

But on morning television on Tuesday, he said it “remains” the party’s policy but would not send “fatigued” Australians back to the polls unless he was sure it would win.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has watered down his pledge for a second referendum. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“This was the huge mistake that the Prime Minister made, which ended up humiliating him and dividing our nation,” he told Sunrise.

The government has repeatedly said it would not support a second referendum just on constitutional recognition.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart, which was agreed to in 2017 and Labor committed to adopting it in full, also calls for treaty and truth-telling.

The Greens have pleaded with Labor to not abandon its commitment to the Uluru statement in the wake of the referendum.

Mr Dutton does not support the treaty process. When asked about treaty and truth-telling in parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deflected.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Mr Albanese said expectations the government’s next steps would be developed within days were “not respectful”.

“We will continue to show respect. We'll take the time to do that. Our commitment to listening to Indigenous Australians is undiminished,” he said.

“We accepted the invitation from First Nations people, which was given in the Uluru Statement from the Heart … That was not given the support in the referendum and therefore we have to find a new path.”

Malarndirri McCarthy said the result of the Voice referendum was ‘deeply disappointing’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Assistant Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said while she respected the outcome, the vote had made clear a painful truth.

“If the outcome says that they don’t want to see First Nations people recognised and they don’t want to have a Voice to Parliament, I find that deeply disappointing,” the Northern Territory senator told ABC Radio.

“It’s not right as a First Nations person to have to keep explaining why your history is important in this country and why we’ve been here for over 65,000 years. That’s not right to have to keep doing that, but we have to obviously keep doing that now because Australians voted no.”

Leaders across the country called for a “week of silence” to grieve the outcome and “reflect on its meaning and significance”, calling on Australians to join them in lowering their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to half mast for the week.

They vowed to announce their path forward in the fullness of time but said the immediate aftermath of the result needed to be digested.