The yes campaign is looking forward to reigniting momentum in its campaign after the coming parliamentary sitting week – the last before the referendum on 14 October – with a nationwide series of major community events, performances and a further advertising blitz.
“The real campaign kicks off after Thursday,” a yes campaign source said, referencing the end of the parliamentary week. “It’s really a month-long campaign.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, announcing the referendum date was a much-needed shot in the arm for the yes campaign, but a subsequent fortnight of parliament and Albanese’s departure for a week of international summits has somewhat blunted focus on the voice.
Yes campaigners have conceded difficulty in getting “cut-through” in mainstream media during parliamentary sitting weeks and are keen for federal politics to take a backseat so the campaign can get more attention.
The Labor government has sought to prioritise normal governing while also pushing a yes vote in the referendum, seeking to stress its focus on day-to-day issues like cost-of-living and the economy. However the break is expected to see key MPs such as the health minister, Mark Butler, and the education minister, Jason Clare, playing more prominent roles explaining how the voice could help achieve better outcomes in their portfolios.
Albanese is expected to feature more centrally in the campaign in its final weeks.
Sunday saw numerous events nationwide supporting the voice, including a “national weekend of prayer” and support from faith leaders in the Hindu, Sikh, Catholic, Islamic and Jewish communities.
“Supporting a ‘yes’ vote will help all Australians be part of the one human community, will further reconciliation with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and will affirm the dignity of all people in this land,” the president of National Council of Churches in Australia, the Rev John Gilmore, said.
Sunday also saw a major show of support from Victorian Aboriginal leaders. The yes campaign is expected to emphasise that the voice has come from Indigenous people, and that there is majority support from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Yes23 says 16 and 17 September will be its “biggest weekend of the campaign”. It’s expecting tens of thousands of people to attend its Walk for Yes community events. More than 30 rallies are scheduled across the country, with speeches and performances, including by singer-songwriter Paul Kelly.
“It will generate the kind of energy and positivity that a campaign against a voice simply can’t match,” the campaign told supporters in an email this weekend.
“The Walk for Yes weekend is critical, because it builds the momentum for our final countdown to the polls … Our energies will go to having as many conversations with as many voters as possible, on their doorsteps, on the phones and in our communities.”
Despite sliding support for a yes vote in published opinion polls, key campaigners believe there is still a path to victory.
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Noel Pearson, a Cape York Indigenous leader, told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday: “I just don’t believe, when the hand of friendship and reconciliation is extended from Indigenous people, that at the end of the day, their love will be unrequited. I can’t believe that.”
“I cannot believe we still live in an Australia where that hand would be just slapped aside.”
Privately however, some yes campaigners are now seriously considering the ramifications of a referendum failure, with all opinion polls showing majority support for a no vote.
Albanese has been overseas for a week of diplomatic travel through Asia, including the East Asia Summit and G20. He defended his absence from the referendum campaign trail at a press conference in New Delhi, saying: “Australia needs to be represented here.
“I’ve made it very clear that I’ll continue to do my job as the Australian prime minister. Whether it’s dealing with cost-of-living pressures, we continue to engage day after day,” he said.
The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, called the voice “an uncontroversial, simple proposition”, saying he was optimistic that undecided voters would choose to back the idea as they learned more about it over.
“All the voice does is ask our First Nations people, consult with them around issues which particularly affect them, so that we can meaningfully close the gap of social disadvantage,” he told Sky News.
“As we get up to the referendum and we watch Australians start to engage with this and we have the opportunity to explain this in its simple terms, as I just have now, I feel a sense of confidence that this referendum can pass.”
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