Lidia Thorpe explains why she thinks Anthony Albanese’s Voice to Parliament is harming Aboriginal people
Lidia Thorpe claims the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum is causing further damage to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by tearing communities apart.
Thorpe leads the ‘progressive no’ bloc, believes The Voice would have no power and does not support the inclusion of Indigenous Australians in the constitution.
The wife of Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Warrung says nothing will change for indigenous people regardless of whether the vote is yes or no.
“Nothing changes if it’s a yes or no,” she said.
“Our people are still dying at the hands of the system, the system is still racist.
Lidia Thorpe (pictured) has claimed the Voice to Parliament referendum is tearing indigenous communities apart
“Our people are in more pain now, I think, than (during) the George Floyd moment,” she said, describing The Voice referendum as an “absolute nightmare.”
‘There are communities being torn apart, families fighting each other over yes or no.
‘What do we get at the end of the day… we get crumbs on the table. And that’s not good enough.’
She has specifically called for the implementation of the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and the Bringing Them Home report.
Meanwhile, Australians living in remote communities will cast their votes in the referendum via mobile polling stations.
Independent Aboriginal senator believes nothing will change for Indigenous people regardless of whether the yes or no vote is cast
Australians living in remote communities will soon begin casting their votes in the referendum via mobile polling stations
Helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and even boats are used by the Australian Electoral Commission to reach remote corners of the country.
Given the logistically challenging task of accessing remote communities, voting in these areas opened 19 days before the October 14 referendum date.
Early voting will begin at other locations on October 2.
It comes as the latest poll for the Voice to Parliament shows just over a third of Australians – 36 percent – will vote ‘yes’.
The results were revealed in the latest Newspoll survey, which collected responses from 1,239 voters.
The latest Newspoll shows support for ‘Yes’ at 36 percent, down 2 points in three weeks, while ‘No’ has risen to 56 percent, up 3 points from the previous poll, marking the lowest support and marks the highest level of opposition to date (pictured, Anthony Albanese speaking at a Yes rally)
The decline in support for The Voice marks a two-point drop in the past three weeks.
Opposition to the historic referendum has risen slightly to 56 percent in less than three weeks until election day.
Support among women has fallen from 41 percent to 36 percent, but the share of those who say they would vote no has risen nine points to 57 percent.
Meanwhile, support for The Voice among men has risen by three percentage points to 36 percent, while among men with a university education there has also been an increase to 54 percent.
However, the biggest concern for the Yes campaign will be the decline in support among the 18 to 34 age group, which is the strongest base of support for The Voice.
Support among this demographic group has fallen five points to 50 percent – down from 70 percent at the start of the year – while those who support No have risen four points to 41 percent.