Voice referendum: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese casts his vote in historic national vote

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has voted early in the historic Vote for Parliament referendum from his Marrickville constituency.

Mr Albanese was in Sydney’s western suburbs on Saturday morning, where he decisively dropped his ballot, apparently with a ‘yes’ vote, into the ballot box at the early voting center at Marrickville Town Hall.

“Yes for recognition, yes for hearing, yes for better results”, writes Albanese in a post on social networks, accompanied by a photo of him casting his vote in the ballot box together with his son Nathan.

Australians are a week away from the official Voice voting day on October 14.

Early voting centers opened in several states on Monday and were open across Australia until Tuesday due to some jurisdictions enjoying a public holiday.

This will be the first referendum Australia has had since 1999.

If the Yes vote is successful, The Voice will provide an avenue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to advise the government on policy and legislation issues that directly affect them.

The latest Newspoll suggested a Yes vote would fail 36 to 56 per cent.

Meanwhile, former Chief Justice of Australia Robert French KC says Australians are ‘better off’ sticking to the No campaign slogan ‘if you don’t know, vote no’, in a speech at the National Press Club on friday.

“It invites us to an unhappy and meaningless passivity. Australians – whether they vote Yes or No – are better than that,” he said.

‘We look forward. We can also look back to better understand where we came from and where we are now.’

The vast majority of legal experts in Australia say the proposed amendment Australians are voting on is constitutionally sound and will “improve” the system of government, Mr French said.

Earlier this week, Lidia Thorpe accused the prime minister of failing to support her after a video produced by neo-Nazis aired disturbing threats against the senator.

Speaking to The Project on Thursday, Senator Thorpe responded to the disturbing threats made against her by far-right extremists and pointed to an increase in racism before October 14.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Prime Minister is disingenuous with his gesture of this so-called Voice and the referendum that unites us,” said Senator Thorpe.

“We told the prime minister that this would divide the country and we told the prime minister that this would embolden the racists, but he still went ahead.

“So it’s in his head and he should have canceled the referendum when he was told.”

The latest Newspoll suggested a Yes vote would fail by 36 to 56 per cent (pictured, Anthony Albanese pictured on the ‘long walk’ with former AFL champion Michael Long

On Monday night, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told several hundred No supporters in Perth that she did not need a voice in Parliament to achieve all she has.

“We need to fix the structures that are already in place instead of muddying the waters and adding more red tape and getting it into our constitution,” Senator Price told the crowd at the Perth Convention and Entertainment Centre’s Riverside Theater to a standing ovation. continuous.

Outside the venue, a group of around 40 Yes protesters called out the alleged ‘racist’ and ‘bigoted’ rhetoric of the No campaign in scenes similar to demonstrations held at No rallies in Brisbane and Adelaide in September.