The Voice referendum LIVE updates: Australians head to polls across the nation to vote on Indigenous constitutional recognition

Key posts

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10.22am

Mundine: Australians aren’t ‘mugs’

No campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine has appeared on Nine’s Today this morning to give his final pitch to voters to reject the Voice referendum.

“This whole referendum is a referendum we didn’t need to have. It’s based on a lie which is that Aboriginal people do not have a voice,” he said.

Nyunggai Warren Mundine.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“What we should be doing is not spending the hundreds of millions of dollars that we’re spending on this referendum, that should have been going out into the Aboriginal communities that are struggling and the money should have been spent on education and health and all those other things that we are fighting for.”

Mundine said the No campaign had been a grassroots effort which involved talking to people, compared to the Yes side which he said was backed by corporations and sporting codes.

“I’m very confident because Australians are pretty good people. They’re not stupid. They’re not mugs,” he said.

“They are really, really good people. We built a multicultural, multi-faith, multi-race country here and we don’t have the problems that you see overseas.”

10.05am

Yes voters cast their ballot in Fitzroy

By Lachlan Abbott

In the progressive heartland of Melbourne’s inner north, many voters in Fitzroy are writing Yes but are sceptical of their side’s chances.

Victoria came the closest to voting Yes at the last referendum in 1999 with strong support for the republic proposal in inner Melbourne. It will need to be even more supportive of the Voice at this referendum to counter expected losses elsewhere in Australia if the Voice is to have any chance.

Stephen Riches was one of the first to vote at Saint Mark’s Community Centre this morning as a long line snaked around the church building.

Stephen Riches from Fitzroy is voting Yes but he’s not hopeful about the referendum’s chances.Credit: Joe Armao

He voted Yes because he said “it was the right thing to do”.

“Around here, I’d be surprised if it didn’t get up, but nationally, it’s a different story, I think,” he said.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s office is just around the corner, but Riches thought her vocal opposition to the Voice and advocacy for a treaty instead didn’t resonate with many locals, who are represented by Greens leader Adam Bandt in federal parliament.

The queue to vote at Saint Marks Community Centre in Fitzroy.
Credit: Joe Armao

“In private, maybe she’s not as radical as perhaps she comes across in public demonstrations and so on,” Riches said.

“It’s tending to put people off, unfortunately.”

Another Fitzroy voter, Susan Cherry, also stopped to say she was voting Yes.

“I think the majority of the Indigenous population want to have control over their destiny. And this is one way that they can perhaps, you know, have more of a say,” she said.

9.59am

Vote Yes and ‘feel better about yourself’: NSW premier

By Amber Schultz

Chris Minns and Linda Burney have voted at Carlton South public school in the Kogarah electorate in NSW.

The NSW premier and federal minister for Indigenous Australians joined the large queue snaking around the school at first, before skipping to the front to avoid disrupting voters.

Holding a sausage in bread, Minns took selfies with locals, while inside the polling centre Burney proudly held up her ballot paper marked ‘Yes’.

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney and Premier Chris Minns with his wife, Anne, cast their vote in the Voice referendum.Credit: Cole Bennetts

The pair were accompanied by NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty David Harris, and Yes campaign directors Dean Parkin and Jade Ritchie.

“This vote and millions of votes like it across Australia will make a major difference to our constitutional arrangements but more importantly, a major difference to First Nations people right across this country,” Minns said.

“Cast that Yes, that positive vote and you’ll feel better about yourself.”

Burney said there were still one in five voters yet to make up their minds.

“This is your opportunity to put your shoulder to the wheel of history and give it a push,” she said.

Burney said she had “butterflies” in her stomach while casting her vote, but was optimistic about the referendum outcome.

“I am not going to entertain the idea of failure today.”

9.50am

Watch: PM visits polling booth

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is visiting a polling booth at Balmain Public School in NSW this morning and spoke with the media. You can watch below.

9.44am

Swimmers, surfers and dog walkers vote at Bondi

By Andrew Taylor

With a towel slung over his shoulder and hair still damp from a swim in the ocean, Tom Armour was one of dozens of voters queuing to vote outside the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club on Saturday morning.

Armour said he would be voting in support of a Voice to parliament.

“I’m voting Yes just because I think the gap between the Aboriginal [people] and other Australians is too large,” he said.

“And we need to try something different.”

No voter Arten Kozmin at Bondi Beach.Credit: Oscar Colman

Armour said he believed a majority of people in Bondi Beach would vote Yes, but he was worried the referendum will go down.

Dressed in her lifesaver uniform and accompanied by her pet dog, Diego, Klara Janickova also said she would be voting Yes “because that’s what the Indigenous people have said they want”.

Yes campaign volunteer Alicia Caplice, whose dog Banjo wore a Yes campaign t-shirt, said she remained hopeful about the referendum despite polls indicating the No vote will win.

Voters at a polling booth at Bondi Beach.Credit: Oscar Colman

“I feel really positive,” she said. “I trust the Australian people will make the right decision today.”

Sporting a shirt with the slogan “Yeah, Nah” and accompanied by his son, Arten Kozmin said he would be voting No because he “all people should be treated the same”.

“This is going to divide our country. This is wrong,” he said.

9.34am

How will the leaders’ seats vote?

By Shane Wright

The Voice referendum, unlike a federal election, will not be won or lost at the seat level. But some electorates will attract plenty of attention.

The starting point will be the seats held by the leaders of the major parties. Most attention will fall on the seat of Grayndler, held by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has brought on this referendum.

In Queensland, Liberal leader Peter Dutton represents part of the country which has a long history of rejecting constitutional reform.

Nationals leader David Littleproud represents a sweeping Queensland seat that, despite holding one of the larger Indigenous populations in the state, is likely to vote No.

Greens’ leader Adam Bandt holds the seat of Melbourne which, since 1906, has been one of the most likely to support a referendum.

You can read about some of the other key seats in this referendum here.

9.14am

The first referendum in a generation

By Amber Schultz

It’s the first referendum this century and easily the first in two-year-old Lars Fossan’s lifetime.

He’s arrived at Carlton South Public School in Carlton, NSW, with his grandfather Mike Wallace, who is a proud Yes supporter.

“I want to make it a fairer world (for Lars’ generation),” he said.

Mike Wallace lines up to vote in the referendum with his grandson, Lars Fossan, aged two.Credit: Cole Bennetts

“I think once all Australians had that belief. It might not have been totally accurate, but at least we had it. I don’t think we can say that now.”

Wallace acknowledged the Voice wouldn’t solve everything, but said it’s “the beginning of something that will”.

There’s a large line at the school as locals, mostly from the Barton, Banks and Cook electorates, get in early.

Premier Chris Minns and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney are casting their votes at the school.

9.09am

Polling booths open in SA, Qld

By Tom Cowie

More voting centres are now open across the country, with South Australians and Queenslanders now able to attend their local polling places.

South Australia is seen as a crucial state for the referendum to succeed, while Queensland is considered a stronghold of the No vote.

Here’s how the latest polling by Resolve Strategic has each state placed:

8.58am

Watch: Linda Burney and Chris Minns address the media

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and NSW Premier Chris Minns spoke to the media on the Voice to parliament referendum this morning. You can watch the press conference here:

8.55am

No victory laps from us: Nats leader

By Tom Cowie

National Party leader David Littleproud has appeared on ABC News 24 this morning, saying that he won’t be doing victory laps or “giving back slaps” if the No vote wins today.

His party announced in November last year that it was backing the No vote, ahead of the Liberal Party making the same call in April this year.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

No-one should feel blame apart from the Prime Minister. This is the Prime Minister’s proposition and ultimately, this is a democratically determined position of the Australian people.

The Australian people always get it right and this is just the wrong proposition and that is why the Nationals got to our position 11 months ago.

…

We have always had a long standing view, if this referendum was about constitutional recognition and that alone, we would have supported it. That would have been a unifying moment. Instead the Prime Minister has divided the country and there is healing that will need to take place. We won’t rush into another referendum.

….

In terms of the result, no-one should feel guilted about how they vote today or guilt about the result. This is a democratically determined position that the Australian people will make. That has been the founding stone of our democracy and our society. Myself as a political leader won’t be doing victory laps or won’t be yelling or screaming and giving back slaps.

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