While most Indigenous Australians are expected to vote yes, confusion, disinformation and a sense of disconnect appear to be impacting their vote in similar fashion to the broader national vote.
Natalie Eastwood, a 51-year-old Ngemba traditional owner from Brewarrina in north-west New South Wales, felt no indecision about her vote in Saturday’s referendum.Natalie Eastwood is voting No in the Voice referendum.“I believe it’s for the elite, it’s not for the grassroots people,” she told the“It’s a top-down approach and one of my biggest concerns is the terminology they are going to use.”
Others in her community are voting No for the more common reason that “no one knows what it’s all about”, she says.this week, confusion, disinformation and a sense of disconnect appear to be impacting the Indigenous vote in much the same way as the broader vote. What was touted earlier this year as an 80 per cent Yes vote among First Nations peoples is now tracking closer to 60 per cent, according to polling released by thethis week. That is still a convincing majority among Indigenous Australians, if borne out, but raises questions about the efficacy of pro-Voice grassroots messaging in communities where it might have been assumed there would be high levels of support.
That’s a view echoed by NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Danny Chapman, who says “we understand why our people fear change and have a distrust of government after what’s been inflicted on us”. She says that’s been a “communication failure by everyone” on the Yes side, including the government, adding “a lot of the negative media has really turned people off”.
“It’s just not been reflected in what people have been telling me”, she says. “I have spent a great deal of time in remote areas”.
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