Indigenous Voice to Parliament: 500 Tasmanian volunteers to embark on doorknocking blitz

Five-hundred Tasmanian volunteers will embark on a doorknocking blitz to drum up support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as the Yes campaign seeks to wrestle back momentum from the No camp. Why Tassie is crucial.

Dean Parkin at the Yes23 Campaign and Come Together for Yes event in Brisbane, Sunday, July 2, 2023 – Picture: Richard Walker

Five-hundred Tasmanian volunteers will embark on a doorknocking blitz to drum up support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament this weekend as the Yes campaign seeks to wrestle back momentum from the No camp ahead of the referendum.

YES23 campaign director, Dean Parkin, touched down in Hobart on Tuesday to attend a number of community events and meet with politicians, including acting Tasmanian Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff.

Mr Parkin said the campaign team’s research had found that Tasmania was the strongest supporter of the Voice out of all states and territories, which is backed up by opinion polls.

“It’s been consistent support, that’s the really important thing,” he said. “It’s been important that there has been multi-partisan support here in Tasmania.”

Dr Rosalie Woodruff acting leader of the Tasmanian Greens with YES23 campaign director Dean Parkin in Hobart for Voice blitz. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

A date is yet to be confirmed for the referendum but it is likely to be held at some point between October and December.

The Voice would be a representative body that would advise the federal parliament and executive government on policies affecting First Nations peoples. Australians will be asked whether they believe the Voice should be enshrined in the Constitution.

Support for the Voice has dwindled over time, with the Coalition campaigning for a No vote and robbing the government of its hope for bipartisanship on the issue.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has claimed the Voice would be a group of “elites” who won’t truly represent the interests of indigenous communities.

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, NewsWire Photos. JULY 31, 2023: Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Parkin said the Yes campaign wasn’t “focused on what the public polls are saying”.

“We know that there’s about 35-40 per cent of the Australian voting population that haven’t made their minds up yet,” he said.

“People haven’t come to a conclusion [about] which way that they’re voting. That’s a very important group of Australians that we’re spending every moment of our campaign trying to reach.”

This weekend, the 20,000 volunteers for the Yes campaign will be doorknocking across 77 of Australia’s 151 federal electorates, Mr Parkin said.

“[We’ll] be getting out there and having those conversations. Because that’s where this campaign will be won,” he said.

Dr Woodruff said voting Yes was “about recognition for Aboriginal people and it is about giving Aboriginal people a voice to have a say over things that affect their lives”.

“The fact that Aboriginal people and the history of 65,000 years of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on this beautiful continent is not recognised in the Constitution is wrong,” she said.

“And so the referendum can correct that with a Yes vote. [The Greens are] truly supportive of that because it’s a step along the path to justice.”

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, the state’s most influential Aboriginal interest group, is campaigning against the Voice, arguing that a treaty should be advanced first.

Originally published as Indigenous Voice to Parliament: 500 Tasmanian volunteers to embark on doorknocking blitz