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A left-wing electorate that was once a stronghold of the Greens has decisively voted No on The Voice – and now the mayor is flying the Aboriginal flag at half-mast.
Fremantle, which covers both banks of the Swan River in Perth, rejected Voice’s proposal with 53.5 per cent of voters opposed to amending the Constitution, according to figures from the Australian Electoral Commission.
In the Coogee beachside polling booth, 60.2 per cent of voters said no.
This is despite the City of Fremantle local council spending $35,000 of taxpayers’ money on the failed Yes campaign.
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge, a former Labor staffer, announced on Monday that her council would fly the Aboriginal flag at half-mast for next week “because an expression of support for local seniors following the Voice referendum result.
A left-wing electorate that was once a stronghold of the Greens has decisively voted No to The Voice – and now the mayor is flying the Aboriginal flag at half-mast (pictured, Fremantle City Chambers)
Fremantle, which covers both banks of the Swan River in Perth, rejected the Voice’s proposal with 53.5 per cent of voters opposing the constitutional amendment.
“We are deeply aware of the disappointment and heartbreak that Indigenous elders in Fremantle are currently experiencing and we want to express our support and empathy,” she said on Instagram.
“They told me they would appreciate this simple sign of solidarity.”
Independent Fremantle councilor Marija Vujcic said the lowering of the Aboriginal flag was disrespectful to voters who supported the No camp.
“She has no authority to lower that flag,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“This flag is only lowered in the event of the death of a king or queen, an important person in the community.
“Once again, she has taken it upon herself to trash the 53 percent of her people, who constitute the majority.”
Councilor Vujcic said the money spent on the Yes campaign was part of a “divisive ideological agenda” – from a council that could not afford to maintain a bus service.
“How will the mayor react to her taxpayers who voted no? »
The City of Fremantle’s Instagram post split ratepayers down to one woman, who voted Yes, explaining why No prevailed.
“I voted yes, but I have a close friend who voted no,” she said.
“After I got over the shock, I listened to his reasoning, and unfortunately it was legitimate.
“If it had been yes, how would it have been administered, realistically? »
Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from Fremantle Council on its support for the Voice campaign.
This gentrified electorate of Fremantle is the only capital in Australia to have rejected The Voice and previously had a Green MP.
No prevailed despite Fremantle’s largest stand backing Voice with a Yes vote of 60.7 per cent.
Fremantle also previously had a Green mayor with Brad Pettitt elected in 2009, 2013 and 2017.
The port city has long been considered Western Australia’s most left-wing city with federal Greens leader Adam Bandt, who grew up in Perth and a supporter of the Fremantle Dockers.
The Labor-held federal seat of Fremantle overlaps with the state seat of the same name where Adele Carles was a member of the Greens, following a 2009 by-election where she received 44 per cent of the primary vote.
It was the highest first preference vote ever recorded at the time for a minor party in a seat in the state’s lower house, but she left the Greens the following year after beginning a relationship with Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell.
Fremantle had Western Australia’s strongest Greens vote in the 2021 state election, which saw Premier Mark McGowan’s Labor Party win 53 of the lower house’s 59 seats.
Here, the Green vote was 18.6 percent, making it the most left-leaning electorate in the state.
At the last federal election, the Greens still held 18.2 per cent of the vote in Fremantle, held by Labor’s Josh Wilson.
Perth, an inner-city Labor seat, was the only one in Western Australia to support The Voice with a 55.9 per cent yes vote.
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge, a former Labor staffer, announced on Monday that her council would fly the Aboriginal flag at half-mast next week “as an expression of support for local elders following the Voice referendum result”.
The rest of the mining-rich state voted no with an overwhelming majority of 63.8 per cent rejecting the proposed constitutional amendment, after Labor Prime Minister Roger Cook had to scrap disastrous Aboriginal heritage laws of his predecessor.
The Voice also failed in urban areas with Labor MPs including Adelaide and Boothby, Chisholm and Hotham in Melbourne and Lilley in Brisbane.
Mr Bandt’s seat in Melbourne received the highest number of yes votes, at 77.3 per cent.
The Voice was also endorsed in his party’s other seats in the Queensland lower house.
Brisbane voted yes with 55.8 per cent support.
In Griffith, support was 55.7 percent, while it was 52 percent in Ryan, a former Liberal Party stronghold that overlaps with the state Greens seat of Maiwar.
The Grayndler electorate, gentrified in Sydney’s inner west, led by Premier Anthony Albanese, received 74.3 per cent of the Yes vote.
He overlaps with the Green state seats of Balmain and Newtown.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Sydney seat had a 70.8 per cent yes vote, with that electorate overlapping with part of Newtown at the state level.
The Wollongong-based Labor seat of Cunningham narrowly backed Voice with 51.4 per cent support, in an electorate the Greens held from 2002 to 2004 following a by-election.
Perth, an inner-city Labor seat, was the only one in Western Australia to support The Voice with a 55.9 per cent yes vote. The rest of the mining-rich state voted no with an overwhelming majority of 63.8 per cent rejecting the proposed constitutional amendment, after Labor’s Roger Cook had to scrap the country’s disastrous Aboriginal heritage laws. his predecessor.
Melbourne’s inner-city Labor seats, where the Greens vote is high, backed Voice with 63 per cent support for Macnamara covering St Kilda, and 64 per cent support for Wills, covering Brunswick.
In Melbourne’s north, the yes vote was 65 per cent in Cooper, overlapping with the state seat of Northcote that fiery senator Lidia Thorpe held for the Greens in 2017 and 2018.
All three federal Labor seats in the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Bean and Fenner, voted yes, with the local territorial assembly made up of Green MPs who govern in a minority Labor government.
But the Labor seat of Richmond in northern New South Wales had a 56.8 per cent no vote.
It overlaps with the seat of Ballina held by the Greens and containing the Byron Bay stand, which backed the Yes vote with 64.9 per cent support.
Just 32 lower seats out of 151 voted Yes to The Voice, with a national No of 60.7 per cent.
Of the Yes seats, seven were held by a “teal” independent, four were Green electorates, one Liberal seat and 19 by a Labor member.