Indigenous voice to parliament late-year poll ‘to harmonise voice’

Voice supporters are split on whether an October, November or December poll would give the referendum its best chance of success.

Anthony Albanese will hold a short, sharp referendum campaign of five to six weeks. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Conservative Yes campaigner Greg Craven says it would be sensible for Anthony Albanese to push the referendum as far as he can to mid-November or early December in the hope voice ­advocates can claw back support and the millions of dollars in ­donations can have the greatest impact.

However Liberals for Yes convener Julian Leeser said the referendum needed to be held soon so the government could focus on pressing cost-of-living pressures.

Constitutional law expert ­George Williams said the major football grand finals in late September and early October would provide the best opportunities to resonate with voters in the final weeks of the campaign.

“If you want to connect to the greater body of Australians, what are those set piece moments in a year that grab the eyeballs and attention of people? They tend to be the footy grand finals,” Professor Williams said.

“Will there be a better opportunity to resonate with people through something people care deeply about? If you build goodwill, recognition, why would you give the No case time to chip away at that and raise doubts (by going later in the year)?”

This comes as former prime minister Tony Abbott says the No side should not become complacent because there was “still an avalanche of money” being donated by “woke public companies, woke foundations and billionaires” to the Yes case that could “buy a referendum outcome”.

Mr Abbott also accused the Prime Minister of having a “momentary attack of amnesia” when he said last week that the voice referendum was “not about a treaty”, after a 2022 video resurfaced of him wearing a “voice, truth, treaty” T-shirt – as per the demands in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Mr Albanese has flagged a five-to-six-week formal referendum campaign, like a federal election, meaning the poll date won’t be announced until September at the earliest. The most likely date flagged by voice supporters is October 14.

Prominent voice campaigners have urged the Prime Minister to “go the course” and hold the referendum this year, after NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg urged Mr Albanese, who has repeatedly said the referendum would be held between October and December, to delay the poll until the middle of next year and find a middle ground so reconciliation was not defeated.

Professor Craven, who like Professor Williams is a member of the government’s constitutional expert group, said he held great respect for Senator Bragg but the proposal was impractical because the government was already fully behind a referendum this year.

If it pulled it, “the clear implication would be it’s so flawed that you don’t know what you’re doing … and people would not forget that”.

“Given the polls are not going well, it might be wiser for the government to delay it until later this year,” Professor Craven said.

“There’s good argument for that because the polls are really not good. It would give the Yes case much more time to deploy money, which is really one of the crucial things the Yes case has. So far, that hasn’t really joined the battle and you’ve got to give it enough time (to make an impact).

“I know that’s dangerous in one sense – more time could make (public support) go lower – but I think the polls are bad enough now that it would be sensible to push it out as far as can be done.”

December 19 is the latest Mr Albanese can hold the referendum.

Professor Craven conceded holding it too close to Christmas would not be appreciated and Professor Williams said December was usually a time people didn’t want politics in their lives.

“It might be seen as desperate to leave it to the very last moment,” he said.

Mr Leeser said he would argue Yes whenever the referendum was held, warning it was a serious act of persuasion and required everyone who wanted to make a difference to get out and argue for it.

“Referenda are all-consuming exercises,” he said.

“A short campaign has been flagged and I support that. We need to hold the referendum soon so that the government can focus on the pressing cost-of-living challenges facing Australians.”

Jim Chalmers, the government’s most senior Queensland MP, said he’d enthusiastically campaign in his home state and around the country.