Thousands take part in Walk for Yes event that closed Elizabeth St in Hobart’s CBD

Thousands of Tasmanians have taken to the streets as part of a Hobart Walk for Yes event to call for residents to vote ‘Yes’ in the upcoming Australian Indigenous Voice referendum. Watch the video.

The upcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament is about people not politics, a leading Yes campaigner says.

Yes23 spokeswoman Jade Ritchie from the Bunda Clan who came from Darwin to speak at the Hobart Walk for Yes event on Sunday was overwhelmed by the turnout and said support for the Voice was growing in Tasmania.

Thousands of Tasmanians – young and old and from different political persuasions – turned out at Walk for Yes rallies on Sunday in Hobart, Cooee and Invermay.

Ms Ritchie said Tasmania was “super important” to the outcome of the referendum on October 15.

“You are a small but mighty state and we hope you can show mainlanders how to see the Yes vote succeed,” she said.

Alison Overeem, Jade Ritchie, Marta Hodul- Lenton, Lee Archer and Rodney Dillon during the Hobart Walk for Yes. Picture: Chris Kidd

“It is heartening to see support across the political spectrum.

“It doesn’t matter how people usually vote because this is about making the nation more unified.

“This is about more than politics, this is about people.

“It is about people listening and getting better outcomes.

“If people are unsure we ask them to find out more.”

Ms Ritchie said she had experienced disadvantage in her own life.

As a public servant, she also understood that governments benefited from getting advice from people affected by decisions and policies.

“Personally, you can’t outrun statistics.

“Children have been removed from their families, we are over-represented in prison.

“I lost an aunty to domestic violence but there was no candlelit vigil for her.

“I am raising two teenagers in the Northern Territory and the statistics show they are more likely to go to prison than to university.

“If you vote yes you change how we can work with governments to get better outcomes.

“If you vote no, it means you want things to stay the same.”

The Yes campaign has about 1000 active volunteers in Tasmania and Ms Ritchie said polling was going well to support the Voice.

She said from the moment she arrived in Hobart on Saturday she had been “impressed” by support for the Yes vote.

Hobart Walk for Yes on September 17, 2023. Picture: Chris Kidd

“I went to a shopping centre and there were plenty of Yes t-shirts around, and in a cafe this morning people stopped me to wish us well.

“There is an amazing feeling in Tasmania.”

Unions Tasmania Jessica Munday, who spoke at the Hobart rally, said she was impressed that there was active support across the political spectrum including from Liberal Bass MHR Bridget Archer who led the Invermay walk.

“It shows we can agree on something that is just sensible, fair and practical,” she said.

“There is nothing more union than providing a voice to people.

“Lot of organisations make representations to parliament all the time and Aboriginal people who’ve been here for 65,000 years deserve, at the very least, a Voice to Parliament.”

Alison Overeem, Jade Ritchie, Marta Hodul- Lenton, Lee Archer and Rodney Dillon during the Hobart Walk for Yes rally on September 17, 2023. Picture: Chris Kidd

Proud palawa woman and member of the Uniting Aboriginal Islander Christian Congress, Alison Overeem, lead Sunday’s march and said the turnout blew her away.

“This is a walk, and in each step it’s a walk towards yes, it’s a walk towards justice and

it’s a walk towards hope for our young people,” Ms Overeem said.

“You never what’s going to happen but I’m so proud of all my Tasmanian brothers and

sisters.”

“To look back at that crowd, my palawa heart just melted.”

Child health nurse Rowena Leunig marched alongside her two young children and said it

is important that her children have an understanding of the issue and that

Australia works towards equality.