‘No’ campaign starts to spook Labor MPs

Labor MPs warn the push for an Indigenous voice to parliament is faltering and the No ­campaign is outmanoeuvring supporters of constitutional change.

Senior sources say they are getting nervous about the slipping of support and urged for greater campaign activity in coming weeks. Picture: Getty

Labor MPs are warning the push for an Indigenous voice to parliament is faltering and the No ­campaign is outmanoeuvring supporters of constitutional change, as the Yes camp faces growing calls within government ranks to urgently ramp up their operations.

Senior sources said they were getting nervous about the slipping of support and urged for greater campaign activity in coming weeks, including door-knocking, signage and mass mailouts urging people to donate and join the Yes campaign.

It comes as Yes 23 prepares to launch its major day of action this weekend – which will include more than 20 events across the country – in what insiders called a “test” for the campaign to drum up support.

The events will take place in the shadow of this week’s Newspoll showing that for the first time more voters oppose altering the Constitution and the majority of states would return a No vote should the referendum be held this weekend.

Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania all returned a majority No response, with only Victoria and NSW likely to deliver majorities for the Yes case.

Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley said that while she ­believed most constituents hadn’t yet “turned their mind” to the ­debate on the voice, she had ­detected a generational divide on the issue and a split between Indigenous groups across the state.

“Certainly it appears from my initial conversations … the Aboriginal community in Tasmania is quite split,” she said.

“I’ve always thought it was going to be a challenge to get it up here, but no one has been campaigning one way or the other thus far so it’s probably too early to tell.

“My concern would be that people over the age of 60 are less likely to support it than those under 40. If I was a betting person, today I’d say it wouldn’t get up here. But I’m hoping with an educational campaign we can change that.”

Senator Polley said some constituents had raised concerns that “this was the beginning of people having more rights than the rest of us”, but that she had been campaigning, particularly on social media, to dispel that myth.

West Australian senator Louise Pratt said she was confident support in her state would grow the closer the referendum drew and that the recent polling should incentivise greater campaign activity.

“I think a bad poll is probably just the thing that people need to go ‘right, we want to do this, let’s go out and fight for it’,” she said.

Anthony Albanese said he was confident in the broad support for the proposed body – which spanned sporting codes, businesses, faith groups and trade unions – and stressed there was still many months before Australians went to the polls.

“The ballot is not this Saturday, simple as that,” he said on Monday. “We have got to explain what it is about, we will continue to do so.”

Brisbane MP Graham Perrett said while he had received a “very positive” response in some suburbs, including Sherwood, door knocking in places like Graceville had yielded more of a No than a Yes response from residents. “The No (campaign) has been out of the blocks quick and loud, so the Yes campaign has a lot of explaining and groundwork to do,” he said.

“The good thing is we’re motivated and up for it.”

A senior Labor source said support in states like Queensland was lower than they had expected it to be, while another said they ­believed the Yes campaign needed to get more organised. “Where are the signs going up on the yards? Where do you go to buy a shirt? Where are the signs going up in the street? Maybe that’s coming,” they said. “From what I see there are ­embryonic signs of a brilliant campaign here … we’ve just got to get organised.”

A number of MPs were also ­optimistic ahead of what is set to be a busy month of campaigning before parliament returns, with Queensland MP Shayne Neumann stressing that the Yes case could not have begun any sooner given the legislation passed only last week.

NSW MP Jerome Laxale said he had always planned to begin campaigning in July and August and said: “No referendum is easy to win and we’ll all have to work hard to get Yes over the line”.

One Indigenous leader who supported the voice said there was a reluctance to ventilate the Yes campaign‘s shortcomings in case this came across as infighting.

“The stakes are very high and people want to help not hurt the voice‘s chances,” they said.

Another insider said the Yes campaign must do more to highlight the positive and practical change that will flow from informed advice on Indigenous policy and ultimately help close the gap.

This included promoting the Central Land Council‘s very specific requests for the voice to put forward its advice for higher prices on sugary drinks and foods in remote communities where diabetes was rampant, the land council’s call for Aboriginal-controlled remote housing that puts the onus on communities to build, maintain and manage dwellings and a reformed work-for-the-dole scheme for very remote areas where only 35 per cent of Indigenous people aged 25 to 64 have a job.

Currently, the voice supporter said, the No campaign was doing a brilliant job of scaring voters with misinformation and impossible scenarios.

Tasmanian Indigenous leader and a strong voice of the “progressive No” campaign, Michael Mansell, said it was incumbent on Mr Albanese and the Yes campaign to “abandon the referendum” should the polls keep trending downwards, or else see a negative impact on First Nations people across the country.