Voice of change

Clarity about how The Voice will work will be essential to the success of the referendum

As the nation moves closer to a referendum on The Voice to Parliament, it’s becoming clear that a lot more work needs to be done to explain what it will mean and how it will work.

In short, how it will affect the day-to-day lives of our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities for the better and the mechanisms through which it will achieve those aims.

But is the government’s messaging getting through to the people who will have to vote on The Voice?

If our random sampling of 103 people in the Cairns CBD last week, a worrying picture is emerging for the Yes campaign in the Far North.

A slim majority (30) said they would vote no.

And while we’re still months out from actually having to vote, the next highest number of people (28) said they were unaware of the proposal for a Voice to Parliament.

The yes vote had 27 backers while the remaining 18 said they were aware but undecided.

Votes in Queensland – and Far North Queensland will be key to the success of the Yes campaign.

A common concern expressed by Indigenous people we spoke to last week, who indicated they would vote no or were undecided, was that the Voice would not sufficiently represent the diversity of Indigenous communities and therefore ignore the differences between them.

That, on the face of it, seems like an issue for the Yes campaign to address in the form of clearly articulating how and why that will work. And judging by the number of people who were unaware of the proposal for a Voice to Parliament, more work needs to be done on publicising the issue, full stop.

As University of NSW constitutional law professor George Williams notes, past referendums have indicated voters with insufficient understanding of a proposed change tend to vote no.

“A lot more work needs to be done to make sure Australians are comfortable with this decision … the Yes campaign will need to explain why (this proposal) will improve people’s lives and why it’s a safe decision.”

That seems simple enough on paper.

But time is quickly running out.