Voice referendum: Jacinta Price and Linda Burney make their final pitches as polls open in historic vote
Leading None campaigner and Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has said she “doesn’t know how The Voice is supposed to change anyone’s life” as she urges Aussies to vote no while polls are open.
More than 7000 booths opened in many states at 8am on Saturday and will remain available for Australians to cast their vote until 6pm.
Speaking on Sunrise just after 8am, Ms Price said she was ‘quietly confident’ the referendum would go in her favour, but said she did not want to ‘take anything for granted’.
Campaigners have released their final speeches ahead of the historic Vote for Parliament referendum on Saturday, with No campaign leader Jacinta Nampajinpa Price (pictured) saying she is quietly confident of winning the No vote.
“There’s still a drive to make sure Australians are voting for a ‘No’ vote as opposed to supporting this empty-voiced amendment to our Constitution,” she said.
Senator Price said there were ‘many red flags’ with the fact that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese failed to ‘show any detail about how the vote is supposed to change someone’s life’.
She said Austrians must 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 there with others to ensure that we will work hard to deliver the results that this government is failing to deliver.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns and Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney cast their vote at the polling station at Carlton South Public School, Sydney.
‘CHANCE TO CHANGE HISTORY’
Australia’s Indigenous Minister Linda Burney has made a big call on The Voice just minutes before the polls open for the historic referendum.
Ms Burney appeared on ABC News 24 just minutes before the polls opened, standing outside a polling booth in Brighton-Le-Sands, south of Sydney.
She said she was committed to working until 6pm on Saturday to convince as many people as possible to vote Yes.
“You have a chance to change history in this country,” she told ABC.
“You have a chance to make Australia a better nation and get better outcomes for Aboriginal people.”
Ms Burney said it was ‘unacceptable’ that Aboriginal people’s life expectancy was as low as 42 in some areas, while suicide rates were twice as high.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney (pictured) said Australians have a chance to rewrite history and deliver better outcomes for Indigenous Australians by voting Yes
After months of campaigning, Australians will have their say as voters (pictured) head to the polls to cast their ballots
“Every Australian today has a chance to change that. This is voting Yes in this referendum,” she said.
Australia’s Indigenous minister said she was determined for the referendum to succeed, saying the issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were a ‘national shame’.
“The good thing is that everyone agrees on this,” she said.
“This is the people’s opportunity, we know that one in five voters have yet to make up their minds. This is everyone’s chance to change those results.’
RECORD NUMBER OF VOTES
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 SEC has warned that anyone who will not vote will not only lose their opportunity, but also risk being fined.
Polls opened across the country (pictured) as Australians voted in the historic referendum, the first in more than 20 years. In the photo, voters collect ballots at a polling station in St. Kilda to Melbourne
To sweeten the deal, AEC says many cabins will have a BBQ or dessert stall.
It has also urged the nearly 2 million Australians who applied for a postal vote and have not yet returned it to do so as soon as possible.
Australians are heading to the polls to vote on whether to include an indigenous advisory body, the Voice, in the Constitution.
This is the first referendum held since 1999.
While polls initially favored the Yes campaign, polls released ahead of the referendum date have shown Australians are likely to vote No.
Voters are seen lining Sydney’s Bondi Beach (pictured) on Saturday morning to cast their ballots as the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) warns those who are eligible to vote and who fail to do so risk being fined.
Thousands of polling booths like this one on Bondi Beach (pictured) have been set up across the country with many Australians yet to vote
For the referendum to be successful, a majority of voters in most states must vote Yes.
In his latest appeal to voters, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said whether Australia would ‘feel better’ about itself if it voted Yes.
“We have an opportunity for Australians to do better. “Let’s do better to show respect for the First Australians, but let’s do something for ourselves too,” he told reporters at the rally in Adelaide.
More than five million voters (pictured) have already cast their ballots after early voting opened last week
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he expected the vote to fail.
“The Prime Minister made a catastrophic mistake by not giving the details to Australians – he has instinctively won their hearts because Australians want better outcomes for Indigenous Australia, but he hasn’t won their minds,” Dutton told ABC Radio.
The counting of votes will begin as soon as the polling stations close at 18:00 on Saturday.
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