Armies of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigners are set to hit the streets in the lead-up to the Indigenous voice referendum on October 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who announced the date in Adelaide on Wednesday, said the constitutional change was backed by politicians across all parties, as well as faith groups, sporting codes, unions and businesses.
“You are not being asked to vote for a political party or for a person, you’re being asked to vote for an idea, to say ‘yes’ to an idea whose time has come,” he said.
“An army of volunteers from every part of this great nation are throwing all of their energy behind it.”
It will be the nation’s first referendum in 24 years, with Australians asked to vote in favour of constitutional recognition of Indigenous people and to enshrine a permanent advisory body called the voice.
Success will require a majority of voters and a majority of states voting in favour.
If the referendum succeeds, the federal parliament will legislate the details of the voice’s composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the government was deliberately keeping the detail of the voice secret until after the referendum.
“It is unknown and divisive and permanent and I believe very strongly that if you do not understand the detail because the prime minister is deliberately keeping it from you then vote ‘no’,” Mr Dutton said.
The Liberal leader’s home state of Queensland is widely expected to vote majority ‘no’, while ‘yes’ case support is strong in Mr Albanese’s state of NSW.
With Western Australia also tipped to reject the voice, South Australia and Tasmania will be key battlegrounds for the campaigns.
Professor Megan Davis, an architect of the Uluru Statement from the Heart which led to the referendum, said “face-to-face yarns” in communities will be the only path to success.
“What we found in our work is that in areas where undecided people come in, they more often leave as ‘yes’ because they get the facts unencumbered by ideological agenda,” she said.
Early voting for the referendum begins on October 2, but because of a public holiday observed in the ACT, SA, NSW and Qld, those jurisdictions will open pre-polling on October 3.
