Anthony Albanese has left himself room to move on most policies, but not this one. The Voice is now a “crash through or crash” issue for the prime minister.
The campaign for the Indigenous Voice has reached a point of no return after five years of stubborn argument for the peak body to be enshrined in the constitution.
Public polling suggests the Yes side is on track for defeat. The Resolve Political Monitor, published by this masthead last week, showsfrom 58 per cent in April to 53 per cent in May and then 49 per cent this month on the Yes or No question about the change. Other polls suggest a similar trend, although Yes23 leaders say their polling shows they are in front.
Crucially, they sought recognition of First Australians in the Constitution but chose not to settle for this alone. They sought practical recognition through the creation of the Voice as an institution that would take its authority from the Constitution. Parliament could define the powers of this new group but would have no choice on whether it existed.Why do people vote Yes? “It’s their land,” says one respondent in a written answer from the latest Resolve Political Monitor.
A common theme among those who vote No is that the country should not be divided by race, although this overlooks Section 51 of the Constitution, which already gives the Commonwealth the power to make special laws for people of any race. The fact that white settlers took land from Indigenous people is also overlooked by some respondents.
So this is not about the marketing – it is about the product. The Voice is about more than recognition because Indigenous leaders wanted practical change. The terrible suffering of First Australians over 235 years gave those leaders good cause to demand a right to consult on federal decisions, even at the risk of a tragic setback for reconciliation if the referendum fails.
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