A proposed Indigenous voice to parliament is likely to fail, with pollsters declaring victory for the ‘no’ case in three states.
Australians have rejected a proposal to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution.
As of 7.25pm AEDT, the ‘no’ vote in the referendum was ahead 55 per cent to 45 per cent, with more than two million votes counted.
ABC election analyst Antony Green said a majority ‘no’ vote in NSW, Tasmania and South Australia was enough to kill off the government’s proposed constitutional change.
A referendum requires a majority of votes in a majority of states to succeed.
The ACT has been the only jurisdiction to support the reform, but its tally only goes towards the national vote and not the state-by-state total.
‘Yes’ campaigner Thomas Mayo said the results had signalled a “sorry day”.
“It’ll expose just a whole different style of political campaign in this country.”
‘No’ campaigner Warren Mundine said advocates against the proposal had engaged with the community.
“I knew that we could win every state, and that we could have a chance to get the majority vote,” he told ABC.
“The reality is that we went and spoke to the people out there.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who pledged the constitutional change in his 2022 post-election speech, said he had done everything possible to ensure a successful referendum.
He said the ‘no’ campaign had “spoken about division while stoking it”.
The prime minister is set to address the nation, once the final results are known.
About 6.1 million Australians voted early and 2.1 million eligible voters applied for a postal ballot, with about 9.2 million Australians casting their vote on Saturday.
Saturday’s vote was the first referendum held in Australia for 24 years.
Source: AAP
