Support for Indigenous Voice is waning as No campaigners Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price share their message in the ad
- Voter support drops again in polls
- The final TV ad is not released for any campaign
- READ MORE: No campaign rallies
The two leading figures of the No campaign have appeared together in a final video ad for the No campaign, as polls show the Indigenous Voice in Parliament heading for defeat.
Warren Mundine and LNP Senator Jacinta Price, who have led the No campaign from the start, appear in the advert which will be shown on high rotation in the crucial state of South Australia, which could decide the fate of the October 14 referendum to decide.
To an upbeat guitar soundtrack, Mr Mundine and Senator Price appear alongside other Indigenous spokespeople at venues across Adelaide claiming the Voice is a measure that will divide Australians in the minute-long commercial.
“Now we have to make a choice: do we give in to guilt and division or do we say no,” Mr Mundine said.
“No to those who seek to divide us,” Senator Price added.
Leading Voice No vote campaigners Warren Mundine (pictured left) and LNP Senator Jacinta Price make a final TV pitch to voters
The ad targets reinforce No campaign’s frequent claim that The Voice is run by non-Indigenous “elites.”
“No to those people who think all indigenous people think the same,” said a female indigenous spokesperson.
“We are not all the same and there are many Aboriginal people who vote no.”
A spokesperson for the No campaign told the newspaper Daily Telegraphh they ‘had known from the start that Indigenous voices expressing concern about division would be crucial when Australians came to decide their vote’.
The spokesperson said South Australia, where the Yes campaign was launched, could be the deciding state for the fate of the referendum.
“We will try to cover the state with advertising until referendum day in the hope that they will vote against the voice of division,” the spokesperson said.
To pass, Voice must win a majority of voters as well as a majority of states, but the latest polls show it is falling short of both goals.
Victorian polling firm Redbridge found support for The Voice had fallen by five per cent in the past month to just 39 per cent nationally.
The yes vote also lagged in every state, with only NSW showing any increase in support from 39 to 42 per cent, offset by a drop in Victoria from 45 per cent to 41 per cent.
Opinion polls show support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament continues to decline, with voters rating it low in terms of the priorities they think governments should focus on
Redbridge also polled voters on how they ranked the Voice in terms of priority for the government and found that only two percent said it should be the main focus, while just six percent placed it in the top three issues.
Voters were much more concerned about bread and butter issues, with the cost of living being in the top five issues by 92 percent of respondents.
Housing affordability was considered the second most important issue, with 73 percent of people naming it as a priority for the government, followed by the economy and employment, which was nominated by 69 percent.
Health care financing, wages, climate change, the economy transitioning to renewable energy and national security were all rated as more important than the Voice, with only about 15 percent of voters naming it as a top five priority.
As a result, the Voice was considered only half as important as road and infrastructure funding, which was chosen by 31 percent of voters.
RedBridge director Tony Barry said the election was a red flag for the Albanian government, which has been accused of focusing too much on the Voice at the expense of other issues.
“There is a real risk for Albanians and Labor that the referendum will reinforce the idea that the government has the wrong priorities and that it will then be punished,” Barry said.