Polling booths have started to open for millions of Australians to vote in the first referendum of their lives, as the nation makes a historic decision on whether to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution.
Voting begins as the latest Newspoll shows the voice proposal is set to fail and, despite a late swing towards a ‘yes’ vote, may fall short of securing a majority in any state.
The majority of polling booths open at 8am on Saturday after weeks of divisive debate over the voice proposal.
The nation has not held a referendum since 1999, so Saturday will be the first time voting on a constitutional amendment for anyone aged under 41.
Voters are being asked to write ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to recognise the first peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the nation’s founding document.
A Newspoll survey published in The Weekend Australian shows a three-point swing toward a Yes vote over the past week to 37 per cent.
With 57 per cent of surveyed voters saying they intended to vote ‘no’ as of Friday, a point down on the previous poll, the referendum would be lost if the poll results were reflected at the ballot box.
Six per cent of voters said they remained undecided.
If their votes were split equally to both sides of the debate the final result would be 60-40 against the voice.
Newspoll found there was not a single state where the ‘yes’ vote was ahead of the ‘no’ vote.
The government has provided more than $300 million to deliver the referendum, while donors have poured millions into the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigns.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said everything was now over to the Australian people.
“Thinking of others costs nothing,” he said.
“This is a time where Australians have that opportunity to show their generosity of spirit.”
In an opinion piece released early on Saturday Mr Albanese said the referendum was a chance for Australians to “get it right” and listen properly to Indigenous voices in order to deliver better outcomes.
“Rather than listening to the people who could guide them towards the best results, governments of all persuasions have wasted billions in a muddle of good intentions that haven’t gotten results,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said a simple change to the constitution recognising Indigenous people would have received almost unanimous national support and been a “unifying moment” for the nation.
“I think most Australians, particularly when we don’t have the detail about how it would work, are going to vote ‘no’,” he said.
More than 7000 polling places will be open from 8am to 6pm.
When asked about the polls showing a victory for the ‘no’ vote, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney told the ABC she would work till close of polling on Saturday to convince people to vote for a better nation.
“This was a generous request from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This referendum and a Yes vote will not affect most people’s lives but it will mean so much to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders,” she said.
As of Friday, five million Australians had already voted out of 17.7 million enrolled electors.
Postal votes can be received up to 13 days after the referendum but Australians must complete these by 6pm on Saturday.
