Thousands of Voice to Parliament Yes supporters to begin doorknocking campaign

The Yes campaign for the Voice to Parliament is about to be turbocharged with thousands of volunteers to begin a doorknocking campaign this weekend.

Households across Australia will be doorknocked by 3000 Yes campaigners this weekend as supporters of the Voice to Parliament turbocharge efforts to educate the community.

Wearing Yes T-shirts and armed with information material, the Yes23 volunteers will hit corflute-lined streets in more than 60 federal electorates in what is expected to be the biggest doorknock of the campaign to date.

Every state and territory – including all federal electorates in Western Australia – will be targeted in the campaign, with volunteers to head out on both Saturday and Sunday.

The doorknocking campaign – which marks the start of significantly stepped-up efforts from the Yes camp – will occur alongside other activities, including the distribution of flyers, community town hall events, a Garma Festival panel discussion with local MPs and information sessions with leading law and Indigenous diplomacy academics.

Yes23 campaign volunteers, Seong Shields, Sunday Blake McAllister, Boomanulla Williams, Paula Fulton and Jacob Cook handing out flyers for the Voice to Parliament. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

At the same time, the Uluru Dialogue team will head out to southeast Queensland to spread the word about the importance of voting Yes.

The team has been holding information sessions in Cherbourg, Hervey Bay, Cooktown, Laura, Cairns, Mossman, Ingham, Tully, Innisfail and Mareeba, while also targeting the NSW regions of Lightning Ridge, Walgett, Narrabri, Mo-ree and Lithgow and Taree, as well as across Sydney.

Professor Megan Davis will meet with Jim Chalmers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

On Sunday, Uluru Dialogue co-chairwoman, Professor Megan Davis, will meet Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Alyawarre woman Aunty Pat for a panel discussion in Logan on how the Voice will affect the local community.

Created in 2017, the Uluru Dialogue is a collective of First Nations leaders, which includes many of the architects and authors of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin said after people had had a conversation about what the voice meant they understood it was about recognising Indigenous people in the Constitution and giving them a say on practical issues that affect them like health, jobs, and education.

“All our experience talking to people about the referendum is that when you have the conversation with people on the ground, away from the noise, they get it,” he said.

“This weekend, thousands more Australians will be having conversations with other members of the community, having their questions answered and we still want more people to keep coming forward to join our movement.”

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Originally published as Thousands of Voice to Parliament Yes supporters to begin doorknocking campaign