By Jeremy Cook
The results of Australia’s first referendum in 24 years were made clear a little more than an hour after polls closed in Queensland.
Approximately 60 per cent of the country’s more than 17.6 million enrolled voters rejected a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament come the end of voting on 14 October, with all states and territories bar the ACT delivering a majority “no” vote.
But it was the federal electorate of Maranoa where support for an Indigenous Voice was at its lowest.
Approximately 85 per cent of voters across the vast rural electorate which runs from Warwick and Stanthorpe in the east to the Northern Territory border in the west, returned the highest proportion of “no” votes out of anywhere in Australia at Saturday’s referendum.
The strength of the no vote throughout the electorate made national headlines with Nationals leader and Maranoa MP David Littleproud telling the ABC News breakfast team on Monday the response from his constituents was “one of lived experience”.
“I wouldn’t say I’m happy. I’m respectful of the result,” Mr Littleproud said.
“I think it would’ve flipped had it been just about Constitutional recognition, but they didn’t see the need for a conflation of more bureaucracy,” he said.
“We’ve seen where in some parts of my electorate, particularly, where we’ve been able to close the gap, by listening to local Elders and they didn’t see this was the right model being put forward.”
Mr Littleproud’s Nationals were the first major party to announce their opposition to the Voice.
His electorate was also the first to be projected for the No campaign in Queensland, the state which recorded the strongest vote against the Voice and returned a “yes” vote of just 31 per cent.
All 110 of Maranoa’s polling booths voted in favour of the No campaign.
The next strongest No-voting electorate was the Division of Flynn in Central Queensland at 83.9 per cent, followed by Capricornia, also in central Queensland, at 81 per cent.
“Where it didn’t work was because it was a representative body rather than empowering those local Elders,” Mr Littleproud said.
“And I think those lived experiences, is why much of Queensland voted the way it did.”
Saturday’s referendum was the 45th in Australia’s history. On only eight occasions has a referendum proved successful.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who made implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full a key promise at last year’s federal election, called for unity in the wake of the referendum’s defeat.
“This moment of disagreement does not define us, and it will not divide us,” the Prime Minister said.
“We are not Yes voters or No voters. We are all Australians.
“It’s now up to all of us to come together and find a different way to the same reconciled destination.”
In a statement, Indigenous leaders who supported the Voice referendum called for a “week of silence” to reflect and grieve on the outcome.
“Now is not the time to dissect the reasons for this tragic outcome. This will be done in the weeks, years and decades to come,” the statement said.
“Now is the time for silence, to mourn and deeply consider the consequence of this outcome.”
