Many voters are looking to Indigenous Australians to guide their vote on the Voice referendum, including MPs. But the answer they get depends on who they talk to.
Kurnai elder Aunty Cheryl Drayton is on a mission to make clear to her local community in the Victorian electorate of Monash that she will be voting No in the Voice referendum and that they should do the same.
“It’s a matter of me keeping my integrity. I can’t say one thing – that I’m listening to Indigenous people – and then go and do another,” Broadbent said, explaining why he would now vote No. “It doesn’t tell them how people are going to get elected [on to the Voice]. The government has thrown a lot of money at this and it could have been spent developing communities’ aspirations,” she said.She acknowledged that there are other Kurnai elders who are voting Yes, including her sister. Meanwhile, another clan in the Gippsland area, the Gunaikurnai people, has issued a statement through their local representative body endorsing the Voice.
In the western NSW electorate of Parkes, which comprises almost half of the state, Nationals MP Mark Coulton represents one of the largest Aboriginal constituencies of any seat in the parliament.in late 2022, long before the referendum process had been finalised. Coulton chaired the party subcommittee that advised the party to take a No position, and said his personal view was informed by discussions with local Aboriginal leaders who opposed the Voice in his community.
“I believe there is strong support among Aboriginal people for it [the Voice]. But I would like to see more information given to grassroots people. They’ve still got questions,” Towney, who has no political affiliations, said.
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