Ahead of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum that takes place next weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is mobilising volunteers and engaging with voters in the nation’s capital to make a last-ditch effort for the Yes campaign.
If the referendum fails, Albanese has categorically stated that a statutory form of the Voice is off the table.
It was a sea of selfies and a field of flowers for the prime minister on the campaign trail at Sunday’s annual Floriade celebration in Canberra.
With just six days left, he was attempting to persuade voters who were on the fence to support him.
He had been preaching to a group of volunteers who were vital to the campaign earlier at a Yes event in Queanbeyan, which is located just outside of Canberra.
“This is our time, this is the change Australia deserves,” he stated.
“There has been a very positive response in both our cities and regional Australia,” the prime minister said. To get better results, it just comes down to two things: acknowledgment and listening.”
Only Tasmania produced a Yes answer on a state-by-state basis, but with a smaller sample size.
“I’m just seeing this as an enormous opportunity for Australia to move forward,” Albanese added, rejecting the notion that the Yes supporters were the underdogs in the contest.
“There’s everything to gain here but nothing to lose.”That being said, if Australia says no, the Voice will be lost. In the event that the referendum is not approved, the prime minister affirmed he would withdraw from the idea.
“If Australians vote No, I don’t believe that it would be appropriate to say ‘oh well you’ve had you say but we’ll legislate it anyway’,” Albanese said.
As stated by Susan Ley, the deputy leader of the opposition, “It is a loss for the country to see this referendum divide the country, the way it has given me no joy.”
