PM asks Australians to vote Yes for a simple ’idea’

Anthony Albanese has asked Australians to vote Yes for a simple and straightforward ‘idea’ enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution, starting a six-week campaign.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Yes23 campaign launch announcing the voice referendum will be held on October 14. Picture: Brenton Edwards/NCA NewsWire

Anthony Albanese has asked ­Australians to vote Yes for a ­simple and straightforward “idea” ­enshrining an Indigenous voice advisory body in the Constitution, firing the starting gun on a six-week election-style campaign and a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz.

The Prime Minister declared that “when Yes wins, all Australians will win” after announcing an October 14 referendum date at the Yes23 campaign launch in Adelaide.

In his pitch for support among faith-based, multicultural, suburban and regional communities, Mr Albanese said the government’s constitutional amendment was “simple, clear, straightforward … unambiguous”.

Under pressure from the No campaign over the lack of detail around the voice advisory body’s function and design, Mr Albanese did not repeat his argument that the constitutional change was modest.

Speaking in front of more than 600 Indigenous leaders, Yes23 campaigners and ALP faithful at the Playford Civic Centre in the northern Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth, Mr Albanese told voters that the referendum had nothing to do with political parties or leaders.

“You’re being asked to vote for an idea. To say Yes to an idea whose time has come. To say Yes to an invitation that comes directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves,” Mr Albanese said.

Indigenous leader and AFL executive Tanya Hosch, co-­architect of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and NRL commissioner Megan Davis and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas delivered passionate speeches endorsing a Yes vote they said would change the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Despite Mr Albanese using his speech to invoke support from sporting codes and footy legends Eddie Betts and Johnathan Thurston, The Australian understands the AFL is unlikely to use the September 30 grand final as a platform urging fans to vote Yes.

The 46-day campaign, culminating in Australia’s first referendum since the failed 1999 vote on a republic, has been timed to maximise exposure of the voice following the AFL and NRL grand finals. AFL bosses are understood to be concerned that an orchestrated pitch on footy’s most celebrated day could backfire. They are worried that pushing a Yes vote on grand final day – watched by 100,000 fans at the MCG and attracting a television audience in the millions – could trigger controversy and spark a referendum backlash. The cautious approach comes despite the AFL’s support for the voice.

“Having the AFL telling people how to vote on grand final day won’t help the cause,” said a source familiar with the thinking in league headquarters.

An NRL spokesman said a decision had not been made over whether messaging around the voice would feature at its October 1 grand final in Sydney.

Mr Albanese, who has ruled out pursuing another form of constitutional recognition if the referendum fails but has not said whether he would support a legislated voice, warned Australians that “voting No leads nowhere”.

“It means nothing changes. Voting No closes the door on this opportunity to move forward. Don’t close the door on constitutional recognition. Don’t close the door on listening to communities to get better results,” he said.

“Don’t close the door on an idea that came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves. And don’t close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians.”

As Mr Albanese, government ministers and premiers ramp up campaigning efforts, Peter Dutton will travel to central Queensland on Thursday to meet with farmers and small business owners. The Opposition Leader, who intends to adopt a business-as-usual strategy and frame Mr Albanese as being preoccupied with the voice ahead of the cost-of-living crisis, said that without more detail Australians would be voting for something they did not fully understand.

“You can’t go to an election asking people to make the biggest change to our Constitution in our nation’s history without providing the detail, and I think most Australians, millions of Australians will want to know what it is they’re being asked to vote for because it’s not going to provide practical outcomes,” the Opposition Leader said. “It is going to be Canberra-based. It’s not going to provide the panacea that the Prime Minister’s promising.”

Mr Dutton, who announced the Liberal Party would oppose the voice in April, has committed to pursuing constitutional recognition if the Coalition wins the 2025 election and legislating local and regional voices.

Indigenous leaders attending the Yes23 campaign launch in the battleground state of South Australia said they “felt relief” after the date was set, praising Mr Albanese’s “clear and concise” speech.

Indigenous author Jackie Huggins said: “I think it laid it clearly on the line. There is a bit of relief now about setting the date because we all know where we stand. Six weeks to go.”

Cape York Partnerships co-chair Richie Ah Mat said the strength of the Prime Minister’s speech was that it let everyone know the referendum was for all Australians.

As the cashed-up Yes23 mobilises its campaign and launches a multimillion-dollar multimedia advertising blitz, senior strategists acknowledge that any slip-ups before the October 14 referendum could see them fall short of victory.

Behind in the polls in Queensland and Western Australia and facing tight races in South Australia, Tasmania and NSW, Yes23 believes it must win backing from at least 38 per cent of the nation’s 4.6 million undecided voters. While the No side only needs a majority of voters in three states, Yes23 must win at least four states as well as a national majority. All eight successful referendums achieved victory with majority support in five or six states.

Leading No campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said it was wrong to suggest Indigenous Australians didn’t have a voice and the Prime Minister was “effectively ignoring” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who rejected Labor’s proposal.

The opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman said voters who wanted to improve the lives of Aboriginal people should vote No and accused Labor of backing a “bloated bureaucracy”.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: DAMON JOHNSTON