‘Kindness costs nothing’, says Australian PM in final plea ahead of indigenous referendum

SYDNEY – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a final plea to vote in favour of recognising indigenous people in the Constitution in a referendum on Saturday, as opinion polls show the vote is set to fail.

Australians have to vote “yes” or “no” to a question asking whether they agree to alter the 122-year-old Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and create an indigenous body, called the Voice to Parliament, that can provide advice to the government on indigenous issues.

About five million Australians have already voted at early polling centres, overseas and through postal votes.

The latest opinion poll released on Thursday predicted the “no” camp sweeping the polls with a lead of 56 per cent over the “yes” vote that is at 38 per cent, with some 6 per cent undecided.

"Kindness costs nothing," Mr Albanese said in a speech during a news conference from Adelaide on Friday.

“This is a time when Australians have that opportunity to show the generosity of spirit that I see in the Australian character, where at the worst of times we always see the best of the Australian character,” he added.

A victory for the “yes” camp may just make life better for indigenous people, the Prime Minister said. “‘No’ takes us nowhere – we are living in ‘no’ right now.”

Australia's indigenous citizens, about 3.8 per cent of the country's population of 26 million, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years.

But they are not mentioned in the Constitution and track below national averages on most socio-economic measures.

Support for the “Yes” camp has slumped since the opposition conservative Liberal Party, led by former police officer Peter Dutton, announced its opposition.

The indigenous advisory body “would have been a very significant and detrimental change to our system of government”, Mr Dutton told public broadcaster ABC.

Mr Ken Wyatt, a former indigenous affairs minister who resigned from the Liberal Party in 2023 over its stance on the Voice, criticised Mr Dutton’s position.

“The arguments that he is putting forward are not factual,” Mr Wyatt told ABC radio.

“They are contentious in order to create fear and division, and they are intended fundamentally to sink the Voice.”

In 1967, a referendum to count indigenous people as part of the Australian population was a resounding success, as it secured bipartisan political support.

The 2023 referendum has not garnered united political support, with leaders of the major conservative parties campaigning for a “no” vote.

Referendums are difficult to pass in Australia, with only eight of 44 referendums being approved since it became a country in 1901. Constitutional change requires a majority of votes nationwide and in at least four of the six states.

Support for the referendum, the first since voters rejected a 1999 proposal to become a republic, has ebbed over the past few months.

Supporters argue the Voice will bring progress for indigenous Australians, while some opponents say enshrining one group in the Constitution would be divisive.

Thousands of “yes” volunteers were deployed around the country on Friday to engage with Australians who have not made up their minds yet.

“The vast, very large undecided vote is there to be taken in the next 24 hours… that’s when people are focusing,” Mr Noel Pearson, indigenous leader and “yes” campaigner said in a radio interview. REUTERS, AFP