‘Not going to chuck the towel in’: Voice champion Pat Anderson undaunted by criticism at Invasion Day rallies

The peak Indigenous group backing the Voice to parliament will urge voters to ignore the “noisy few” critics who oppose the change to the Constitution by releasing research showing 80 per cent of First Nations people want the reform despite fierce criticism at Australia Day protests across the country.

The call intensifies the political contest over the Voice after tens of thousands of people joined Invasion Day marches in the capital cities, hearing Indigenous leaders including Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe denounce the proposal and demand a treaty to give First Nations people more power.

Pat Anderson says there is no surprise at the criticism of the Voice at the protest marches but there is concern at the message to voters.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson said the research, based on polling by Ipsos among Indigenous people over the past week, showed overwhelming support for the Voice and backed the case for all Australians to support the change at a referendum later this year.

Anderson, who has worked in Aboriginal health for decades and is a key member of the referendum working group, said there was no surprise at the criticism of the Voice at the protest marches but there was concern at the message to voters.

“Of course it worries us but we’ve got a long way to go here, you know, and there are lots of opinions and there will continue to be,” she said.

“So we’re not going to chuck the towel in now because we’ve got people on Invasion Day speaking loudly – that’s fine, it’s a democracy.

“Hopefully, they will be convinced over the next little while, but there’s a rusted-on group in Australia – about 10 per cent, it goes up and down – and it doesn’t matter what you say, they’re not going to change their opinion, they’re always going to say the same.”

With the success or failure of Voice turning into a test of reconciliation and national identity, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged Australians to back the proposal while Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said voters did not understand how it would work – adding, however, that he was willing to meet the referendum working group to hear its views.

The proposal faces immense challenges when the Greens are split on the issue and the Coalition is criticising the plan, heightening the importance of campaigns by the Uluru Dialogue and others when political leaders and some Indigenous leaders are divided.

Anderson said she was confident the proposal had overwhelming support among First Nations people as well as majority support among all Australians despite the criticisms from Invasion Day protest leaders on Thursday.

“They’re entitled to their opinion but let me say they’re a small, noisy group who get a lot of attention from journalists,” she said of the critics.

“But there are a whole lot of people out there who are just sitting at home listening and making up their own mind – Aboriginal people in particular.”

The Uluru Dialogue, based at the University of NSW with Professor Megan Davis as co-chair, commissioned research company Ipsos to ask Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders aged 18 and over about the Voice from January 20 to 24. It surveyed 300 people to produce results with a margin of error of 6 percentage points.

Ipsos found 80 per cent of respondents backed the proposal while 10 per cent opposed it and the remainder were undecided.

Several Indigenous leaders including Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe denounced the Voice proposal and demanded a treaty to give First Nations people more power at Invasion Day marches around the country.Credit: Joe Armao

The question was: “Do you support an alteration to the Australian Constitution that establishes a Voice to parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?”

The data was weighted to population parameters using the most recent figures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reflect the community by age, location and gender.

Asked how sure they were about their view, 57 per cent said they were “very sure” of their support while 21 per cent said they were “fairly sure” and 2 per cent backed the proposal but said they were not really sure about it.

Australians backed the Voice by 60 per cent in the Resolve Political Monitor published by this masthead on Tuesday when asked a “yes” or “no” question with no option to be undecided, but their support had slipped from 64 per cent four months ago.

Australians would support the Voice despite the disagreements among political leaders, Anderson added, in a parallel with the 1967 referendum to include First Nations people in the population.

“There is a strong belief that the Australian people are fundamentally decent. We asked them in ’67 and we’re asking them again. They helped us then and they’ll help us again,” she said.

“That’s why this is going to win because the Australian people are going to rise to the occasion.”

The campaign against the Voice gained widespread attention at Invasion Day marches across the country when protest leaders told marchers to reject the proposal in favour of a treaty that could deliver more power to First Nations people.

“We are sovereign and this is our land. And we deserve better than an advisory body,” Thorpe told the Melbourne march, estimated at 80,000 people by organisers but at about 15,000 people by police.

“We want real power and we won’t settle for anything less,” she said.

Anderson acknowledged that Dutton would probably not support the Voice and avoided any criticism of Thorpe.

“Lidia’s entitled to her view and she expresses it very vocally and well and, you know, maybe she’s part of the 10 per cent, but I’m not going to criticise any other Aboriginal person about any view that they might have.”

Indigenous leader Tom Calma, the co-chair of the Indigenous Voice advisory group and named on Wednesday as the Senior Australian of the Year, said he was disappointed with Thorpe’s stance.

“It’s important that we as Aboriginal people have an opportunity to be able to contribute to policies that impact on us and programs and legislation and that’s the first step,” he told ABC Radio.

Melbourne University professor Marcia Langton, the other co-chair of the Voice advisory group, said the Voice would help Indigenous communities by including them in consultation on policy but was scathing about political criticism of the proposal.

“Imagine an Australia without these ugly fights about Aboriginal affairs. Why are we the football in politics, far too often with no result? This is why we need the Voice – to take the politics out of good policy design,” she told ABC TV.

“Peter Dutton doesn’t know anything about Indigenous affairs and, dare I say it, nor do the Greens. The Greens’ policies are hopeless.”

A spokesman for Dutton said he wanted “reasonable questions answered” on the Voice and was happy to attend a future meeting of the referendum working group.

“As you move around the community, it is quite obvious that people don’t understand what it is that the prime minister’s talking about,” Dutton said while celebrating Australia Day in his Queensland electorate.

Albanese said he did not want to engage in “partisan politics” but urged Australians to back the referendum.

“If not now, when? And if not the people of Australia this year, who will make this change, which will improve our country, improve our national unity? This is an opportunity for Australia. It’s one that I sincerely hope that Australia doesn’t miss,” he said.

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