Sky News launches new TV channel dedicated to The Voice

With the public soon to vote on politically-charged The Voice referendum, Sky News will launch a new channel and documentary. See why.

Sky News Australia will launch an entire channel dedicated to the Indigenous Voice referendum, meaning 24/7 coverage of the supercharged political issue.

Similar to the broadcaster’s election and Covid-19 specials, the channel – to be launched on July 25 – will canvas all angles of The Voice to Parliament debate including live press conferences in full, government and community announcements and townhalls, alongside breaking news, analysis, commentary and documentary programming.

Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker said it will provide Australians with up-to-date information and rolling coverage from all sides of the issue in the lead up to the historic referendum to alter the Constitution later this year.

“As the nation is asked to decide on a change to the constitution – one of the most consequential responsibilities for Australians in decades – Sky News Australia is committed to ensuring voters are comprehensively informed,” he said.

Sky News Northern Australia correspondent Matt Cunningham with Constantine Mamarika in his doco The Voice: Australia Decides. Picture: Sky News.

The channel, called Sky News The Voice Debate, will also premiere a one-hour, specially commissioned documentary, The Voice: Australia Decides, hosted by Sky News Northern Australian Correspondent Matt Cunningham.

Cunningham travelled the country speaking with key Indigenous leaders, traditional owners of the land, experts and politicians on both sides of the debate, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Petter Dutton.

He said while debate was fierce and divided, many Australians were not engaged with the important issue.

Noel Pearson with Matt Cunningham.

“I had an inkling of this already in conversations I had around the mood of this,” Cunningham said.

“I don’t think this has been a water cooler issue in this country at any point yet and I think that really came out of conversations we had with people on the ground. It’s not front and centre of their thinking at this stage.

“It’s very much front and centre in Canberra and in all of the political discussions. But when you’re talking to people on the street, be they in Melbourne or Sydney or, you know, in Groote Eylandt – it’s not a front-of-mind issue at the moment.

“I can certainly understand that when people sit down around the dinner table at night, given the cost of living is through the roof and interest rates are going up and they’ve got all these other things to worry about – the idea of a referendum on the constitution is not a first-order issue to discuss.”

Matt Cunningham chats with Jacinta Price in his doco The Voice: Australia Decides. Picture: Sky News

Cunningham is hoping that his doco – and the new channel – will change that, as well as give both sides of the debate an opportunity to put forward their views in a “respectful and considered way”.

“We live in this social media age now and everything’s so polarised and opinions are so strident one way or the other,” he said.

“I really hope that the news channel in particular is a real chance, you know, just to have a considered debate about what really is one of the most significant changes to the Constitution that we’ve ever had proposed in this country – rather than have this sort of social media style shouting match that things tend to descend into so quickly these days.”

The documentary will be broadcast on Sky News Australia, as well as The Voice Debate channel.

The dedicated channel will also be available to stream online at SkyNews.com.au/TheVoiceDebate and across News Corp masthead websites.

The Voice: Australia Decides airs on Sky News The Voice Debate and Sky News Australia on Tuesday July 25 at 8pm.

Originally published as Sky News launches new TV channel dedicated to The Voice