Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Anthony Albanese ‘not sorry’ for going to ASEAN and G20 summits as Yes campaign support drops

When support for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament plummeted and the Yes campaign was bleeding money without any benefit, Anthony Albanese spent a week abroad.

The Prime Minister attended the ASEAN, East Asia and G20 summits this week as support for The Voice went into freefall in the latest polls.

A RedBridge poll from the first week of September found that only 39 percent of people plan to vote ‘yes’ in the upcoming referendum on October 14.

But speaking from the Indian capital New Delhi, Albanese said he makes “no apologies” for missing a week of the Yes campaign, which he previously defended as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring our country together ‘.

His absence came as it was revealed that the Yes23 campaign had spent $512,831 on social media advertising in a month, but support was in decline.

‘The G20 is such an important body. It represents 85 percent of global GDP. And that’s why what happened here is important,” Albanese said.

‘One in four jobs in Australia is dependent on trade. I make no apologies for being engaged because it is important that Australia has a seat at the table; because it impacts the living standards of Australians.”

Yes23’s massive spend on 4,786 Facebook and Instagram ads from August 7 to September 5 is comparable to No backer Advance Australia’s $64,165 for 135 ads in the same period.

Another No campaign, Australians for Unity, spent just $22,849 on 22 ads in that time, while the Yes vote fell below 40 per cent in every state bar in Victoria.

In April, the Prime Minister said the Voice was ‘about how Australians see ourselves, but also how the world sees Australia’, and that the referendum would ‘affect the international perception of the country’.

But while Albanese spent a week in Asia, the pro-Voice campaign’s call for a yes vote hit a brick wall and took a turn for the worse.

RedBridge chief executive Tony Barry said the Yes campaign’s decision to associate closely with Qantas and outgoing CEO Alan Joyce was damaging the business.

‘Pitching your campaign to a toxic brand like Qantas and one of the country’s most hated CEOs might work when pitching your message to the members of the Chairman’s Lounge, but in Australia’s suburbs and regional areas it’s spreading like a pathogen down. ‘ he said to the news.com.au.

The results of the Redbridge survey were similar to those of a poll on the Freshwater Strategy last week, which found that 59 percent of respondents planned to vote ‘no’, while undecided voters were excluded.

Mr Barry said the Yes campaign was “now in freefall”.

“The Yes23 campaign continues to inform the media that they are taking their campaign to the suburbs and regions, but then they return to media stunts with companies, celebrities or former senior politicians who previously opposed it,” he told the Telegraph.

One of the reasons the No campaign is gaining traction is that it is delivering a consistent message by repeatedly referring to the proposal as the ‘Canberra Voice’.

“Their research probably shows that it is a persuasive message that moves soft voters to their column,” Barry said.

Another RedBridge executive, Kosmos Samaras, agreed that the Yes campaign’s message was not resonating.

“This suggests that their research here has completely missed the mark and has not identified the real drivers behind why people vote ‘yes’ or what might help convince undecided voters,” he told the newspaper. Sunday Telegraph.

A quarter of those surveyed said the main reason for voting against the Voice was the No campaign’s core message, which is ‘it divides us’.

‘There’s not enough detail’ and ‘it won’t help Indigenous Australians’ were also cited as top reasons for not supporting the referendum.