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Leading No campaigner and Liberal National Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she is “quietly confident” that voters will vote against Indigenous Voice in Parliament.
More than 7,000 booths opened at 8am across all states on Saturday and will remain available for Australians to vote until 6pm.
A Newspoll poll found 57 percent no and 37 percent yes – a late three percent swing to the Yes camp.
Speaking on Sunrise just after 8am, Ms Price said she was “quietly confident” the referendum would go in her favor, but said she did not want to “take anything for granted”.
“There are still efforts to ensure Australians vote ‘No’ rather than supporting this proposed meaningless change to our Constitution,” she said.
Jacinta Price revealed she was ‘quietly confident’ the No campaign would succeed
Senator Price said there were “a lot of red flags” with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese failing to “show a single detail of how voting yes is supposed to change anyone’s life “.
She said Australians need to understand that voting “is not the only way forward”.
“I don’t think we should divide ourselves along racial lines,” Senator Price said.
“The Constitution belongs to every Australian and we must come together as Australians and I am here with others to ensure we will work hard to deliver results that this government is failing to deliver.”
Linda Burney: Voice voting is a chance to change history
Australia’s Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney made a major appeal on The Voice just minutes before polls opened for the historic referendum.
Ms Burney appeared on ABC News 24 just minutes before the polls opened, while standing outside a voting booth in Brighton-Le-Sands, in Sydney’s south.
She said she was committed to working until 6 p.m. Saturday to convince as many people as possible to vote yes.
“You have a chance to change the history of this country,” she told ABC.
LINDA BURNEY
“You have the opportunity to make Australia a better nation and achieve better outcomes for Indigenous people. »
Ms Burney said it was “unacceptable” that Aboriginal life expectancy was as low as 42 years in some areas, while suicide rates were twice as high.
“Every Australian today has a chance to change that. It’s by voting yes in this referendum,” she said.
Australia’s Aboriginal Minister said she was determined the referendum would succeed, saying the problems faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were a “national disgrace”.
“The good thing is that everyone agrees on that,” she said.
“This is the people’s opportunity, we know that one in five voters have not yet made their decision. This is everyone’s opportunity to really change these results.
Record number of early voters
A record number of Australians have already voted in the Voice referendum as the campaign enters its final hours.
More than 5.4 million votes had been cast as of midday Friday at early voting centers across the country.
The AEC warned that anyone who failed to vote would not only miss their opportunity but also risk being fined.
To sweeten the deal, the AEC says many stalls will have a barbecue or cake stand.
The approximately two million Australians who have requested a postal vote and have not yet returned it are also being asked to do so as soon as possible.
Australians are heading to the polls to decide whether to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body, The Voice, in the Constitution.
This is the first referendum organized since 1999.
While polls were initially supportive of the Yes campaign, polls released before the referendum date indicated that Australians were likely to vote No.
For the referendum to be successful, a majority of voters in a majority of states must vote yes.
In his latest appeal to voters, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia would “feel better” about itself if it voted yes.
“We have an opportunity for Australians to do better. Do better to show respect to the first Australians, but also do something for ourselves,” he told reporters at the Adelaide election.
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he expected the vote to fail.
“The Prime Minister made a catastrophic mistake in not providing the details to Australians. He instinctively won their hearts because Australians want better outcomes for Indigenous Australia, but he did not win their minds,” she said. Mr Dutton told ABC radio.
The counting of votes will begin as soon as polling stations close on Saturday at 6 p.m.