The Voice referendum: Indigenous man reveals why he voted no

A First Nations man has explained the main reason why he will vote no in the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Australians will be asked to vote on whether or not to amend the constitution to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in parliament sometime between October and December.

In an excerpt from a television interview, the native man said that a small representative group would not be able to speak for all First Nations people.

“We vote No because it’s not something we chose. We are our own individual voices,” he said.

‘Each tribe has its own individual voice; you can’t speak for someone else because you don’t own their land.’

The clip sparked a wave of backlash, unsurprisingly, in support of the man’s stance from the channel’s viewers.

“Well said, thanks for your vote, I’m going to vote no,” someone said.

“This whole campaign is creating divisions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, it is causing so much damage,” said another.

Campaigns from both the yes and no sides are ramping up in the run-up to the referendum.

The yes vote to enshrine an indigenous voice in parliament in the constitution continues to lead to those saying they will vote no — though support has faded in recent months, the prime minister says.

Anthony Albanese made the call as new polls showed the yes vote fell to 46 percent, from 51 percent in February, ahead of a national referendum to be held later this year.

The no vote rose to 43 percent, from 36 percent four months ago, with about 11 percent of voters not deciding, according to the JWS Research poll released Friday.

JWS noted a significant increase in the no vote among voters aged 35 and over and among those living in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

“There’s a different poll every day,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

“Every poll, including the one that was mentioned today, naturally has the Yes vote higher than the No vote.

“Australians will make up their own mind and I encourage Australians to look at the wording that has been put forward and talk to First Nations people as well.”

Meanwhile, an Ipsos poll commissioned by the Uluru Dialogue in January showed 80 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians support a vote enshrined in the Constitution

It turned out that 10 percent of Indigenous respondents were against the Voice to Parliament and a further 10 percent remained undecided.

The vote referendum will be held in the last quarter of this year and its success depends on majority support across the country and in four of Australia’s six states.

The Voice to Parliament will be able to advise Parliament and Government on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Earlier this week, representatives of the Northern Territory Land Councils traveled to Canberra to present the Barunga Declaration to Mr Albanese and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.

The statement calls “to enshrine the recognition of our peoples in our still young Constitution by our vote to parliament and the executive government, never to be silenced at the stroke of a pen again.”

Members of the Northern, Central, Tiwi and Anindilyakwa land councils signed the statement at the Barunga Festival in early June.

It invites all Australians to ‘rectify the wrongs of the past and address the grave issues affecting First Nations peoples … and unite our country’ by voting ‘yes’.

Mr Albanese said anchoring the vote would be a positive change and would have no downsides.

“This is all positive and I sincerely hope Australians vote ‘yes’,” he added.

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Megan Davis told AAP this week that the vote will change lives.

“It is a modest reform that will help transform the daily lives of Aboriginal and Islanders and recognize our place as the First Nations of this land,” she said.

But the federal coalition continues to argue that the vote will create a group “at the top of our system of government with an unrestricted, untested ability to engage not just with elected representatives, but across the full spectrum of executive government and the supreme authority endowed by the Constitution’.

“This is bad policy. It’s a bad proposal,” Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said at a NSW Liberal party conference in Sydney on Saturday.

“It won’t produce better outcomes for Indigenous Australians, but it will produce worse outcomes for all Australians.”

Ms Ley also noted that before the opposition made its position clear, support for the vote was between 60 and 70 per cent.

‘We have made a principled decision on this. We wouldn’t let all the polls influence us,” she added.

Ms Ley again called on Mr Albanese to work with the opposition to enact legislation ‘that we can agree on’ on the vote and then go to the people with a referendum question that has bipartisan support.

The question to be asked in the referendum is: ‘A bill of law: to amend the Constitution to recognize Australia’s first peoples by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you agree with this proposed change?’