Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “politicising” the debate on the referendum for an Indigenous voice to parliament and yet the Prime Minister has done most to treat the referendum as a political campaign.
What’s more, the strategy with set public pieces and excited announcements designed to grab attention, focus voters and build momentum for the Yes campaign is having the reverse effect.
This is bad for the Yes campaign and the body politic because partisan tactics and political performances are deepening the partisan divide when bipartisan support is essential for a positive vote.
Labor and Albanese himself are also beginning to suffer in the public eye as a failing referendum campaign conflates with associated political issues ranging from the cost of power and petrol to the Qantas quagmire and begins to bleed political support from the government.
The latest Newspoll survey on the voice to parliament demonstrates – again – that treating the referendum like an election campaign with voters being asked to make an increasingly partisan choice based on exuberant events and exciting revelations is failing.
In parliament Albanese accused the Coalition of not talking to Indigenous groups and said this showed: “What this is about. It shows it’s all about politics.”
Yet, Albanese’s attempts to build interest and create an election-style momentum is actually working against the Yes campaign.
When Albanese promised a referendum in this term for a voice to parliament, the support polls for the concept was above 70 per cent.
As cabinet adopted the Indigenous working committee’s proposal in late March, Newspoll had the Yes vote at 53 per cent and the No at 39 per cent.
The June survey showed a massive drop with Yes voters falling from 53 per cent to 43 per cent and rising from 39 to 47 per cent. The surveys steadied as Albanese teased out the announcement of the October 14 referendum.
After the announcement of the referendum date with the air of a campaign launch, support worsened for the voice with the Yes vote dropping three points to 38 and the No vote jumping five points to 53 and the first clear majority. This included a 23-percentage point net fall in Greens support and a 12 per cent net fall in the 18 to 34-year-old group.
Political style campaigning is counter-productive for the Yes campaign and the more Albanese talks about politicisation the worse it will be.
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