So, the Voice

[Ozgirl75]

I’m trying to follow it from the U.K. where I’m living this year and it seems massively political and divisive, is that what it’s like over there or is that just being started by the media?

My sister is volunteering at a booth today for the yes campaign and says the atmosphere is grim.

Am I right that the first results will be about 10 am Sat 14th in Britain or would it be later than that? (I know it will take a fair while.)

Good question. @AtmosAtmos 10am British time would make it about 7pm our time,(by my calculations).

Appatently the last referendum went like this:

“The head of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy, Mrs Kerry Jones, broke out the champagne at 8.07pm, effectively declaring victory.

Republican and federal opposition frontbencher, Mr Robert McClelland, conceded at 7.30pm that the yes case was lost.”Referendum for a republic

So, possibly by around 7.00pm Saturday night, Australian EST, we’ll have some idea.

(Formally, the AEC do not declare for 14 days when all votes have been counted twice in any vote - elections or referenda - according to article I read on SBS)

All votes in all Australian elections are counted twice? That is a randomly interesting fact that I did not know.

This article may be of interest to those wondering how long it will take to get results in.

https://antonygreen.com.au/how-might-the-referendum-results-come-in/

Yes the counting twice is a random thing to know. 😄

I just watched about 2 minutes of Michaela Cash (on the ABC) accusing Albanese and his govt of causing divisions within Australia. Not so many years ago this tactic of accusing the opposition of something you are doing, would have been seen as a ludicrous (by nearly everyone, I think), but it’s done regularly now. Trump led the way in that regard. It must be fairly effective, god help us.

At the polling both in Balmain it is all YES flutes, and no one is saying they are voting no.

The ABC reporter said she had been at Randwick earlier and YES/No flutes were about 50/50 and she spoke to both yes and no voters there.

In my area on the nsw coast there are yes and no flutes according to my husband, but that’s all he noticed. I postal voted earlier in the week.

The Democracy Sausage is present in both Balmain and Randwick.

@Engine003 very interesting.

@Cloudflare you’re absolutely right about the Murdoch influence. I saw a quote online the other day that nailed it. It was something along the lines of:
The problem is, no-one has explained the Voice to Peter Dutton in terms he can understand. The Voice is a dedicated body that exists to help shape government policy. Like News Corp, but for Indigenous Australians.

In the seat of Perth the corflutes and banners were about 70/30 Yes/No. There was a man in a Yes shirt talking to people, but I wasn’t sure if he was campaigning or just socialising, and one man handing out No flyers, saying “Vote no to the voice of division.”

The democracy sausage was also in action, and doing a brisk trade. But only in hotdog buns and no option of a slice of crappy white bread, which seems wrong.

In an area like Balmain I would expect (hope?) the Yes vote would dominate -here in the coastal retirement ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative-we're-too-scared-to-vote-yes crowd, I pretty much despair. They're all too frightened of any change at all, in pretty much anything. Ultra-conservative churches encouraging a No vote. Tonight will be interesting - I have the ABC on.

The problem is, no-one has explained the Voice to Peter Dutton in terms he can understand. The Voice is a dedicated body that exists to help shape government policy. Like News Corp, but for Indigenous Australians.

@TerrorAustralis

😂Thanks, the quote absolutely nailed it!

The Democracy Sausage being served on a hot dog bun would disappoint me.

It's been called for the No side on ABC.

Antony Green - ABC - has called it. It’s No.

So sad - polling booths still open in WA for another 90min, but looks like it's all over declaring it a NO. 😭

Sad day 😞

Devastated.

So now we're back to nothing again! So frustrating and so very disappointing. Where to from here?

I’m just so fucking sad right now.

I wanted to text my Aboriginal friends to say sorry, but I don’t know if that would just be making myself feel better or whether it would be genuinely helpful.

The indigenous couple who live near me voted no. They said the Voice was divisive, so I guess they are pleased but I think it's wretched.

It’s so incredibly sad. Australia has rejected the invitation from our First Nation peoples. Dutton’s misinformation, refusal to meaningfully debate the Voice and challenge the lies and fear tells us where the LNPs priorities lie.

All of the constitutionally sound work, engagement, hope and generosity working towards recognition and unity rejected.

Gutted 😐

It was never going to get up. Way too hard - majority of the national vote AND 4 out of 6 states. ACT was always going to vote yes but they don't count.
Huge waste of money and time. It should have been postponed a year to give people a chance to actually understand it. It was very wishywashy and if Australians aren't sure they will vote NO. Makes us look like racist rednecks but it wasn't that at all. A lot of aboriginal people said they were voting NO. Not as simple as it seems from overseas . Still a bit sad about the total waste and the racists that will latch onto this .

it’s very sad. I’m sad. It’s extremely disappointing and honestly, fuck Dutton for his opportunistic politicising of this very important referendum. Support started to fall off once Dutton started in with his ‘’I don’t understand it’ bullshit.

If Dutton couldn’t understand it, he damn well shouldn’t ever be thought of as being smart enough to be a prime minister.

It’s not a waste of money. We know now that a large group of Australians support The First Australians. I turned off the tv as soon as the ABC called it, but estimates at that time were that anywhere between 6 to 8 million Australians did understand what they were being asked to do, and did it.

I voted no. I’m not happy that the No vote won. I’m not celebrating. This proposal wasn’t right for the Indigenous people or Australia as a whole.

I don’t agree that the politicians would magically listen to a Voice delegation when they haven’t listened ever before. I don’t think any lobby group should have the right to go straight to the government and be listened to.

I imagined what would a lobby group such as Stonewall in the early 90s (gay rights all be nice and lovely living in harmony etc) having a legal right to lobby government on policy but then seeing what it has now morphed in to and having no way to get rid of them.

Not surprised, but sad. I did think we would pick up one or two states. Shame on Dutton with his “I don’t understand” nonsense.