2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum

Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023
Parliament of Australia
Long title A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice[2]
Territorial extent	Australia
Passed by	House of Representatives
Passed	31 May 2023
Passed by	Senate
Passed	19 June 2023
Legislative history
First chamber: House of Representatives
Introduced by	Mark Dreyfus
Introduced	30 March 2023
First reading	30 March 2023
Second reading	30 March 2023 – 31 May 2023
Consideration in detail	31 May 2023
Third reading	31 May 2023
Second chamber: Senate
Member in charge	Murray Watt
Received from the House of Representatives	13 June 2023
First reading	13 June 2023
Second reading	13 June 2023 – 16 June 2023
Committee of the whole	16 June 2023 – 17 June 2023
Third reading	19 June 2023
Amends
Constitution of Australia
Summary
Amends the constitution to prescribe an Indigenous Voice to Parliament
Status: Not passed

The government settled on and announced the text of the question on the ballot and the actual amendment on 23 March 2023.[3][4] These were formally approved by parliament through the passage of the Constitutional Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) Bill 2023 (Cth). The bill was examined and endorsed by the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum, subject to two dissenting reports authored by Liberal and National party members respectively.[5]

The Liberal report put forward several changes, including the deletion of sub-section 128(ii) (to reduce a risk that representations from the body must be considered), a new section 77(iv) (to allow the parliament to control the applicability of judicial review under section 75(v) of the Constitution), the addition of the words "and the legal effect of its representations" to sub-section 128(iii) (to clarify the power Parliament has to legislate regarding the Voice), and the replacement of the words "executive government" to "ministers of state" (to reduce the possible ambit of people to whom the Voice may make representations). The National report, on the other hand, rejected the proposed bill entirely.[6]

Following the passage of the bill, the referendum date was announced by the Prime Minister on 30 August 2023.[7] The referendum was officially triggered on 11 September 2023 with the issuing of a writ by the Governor-General to the Australian Electoral Commission.[8]

For any amendment of the Constitution to proceed, it must receive a double majority of votes. This means that for a referendum to succeed, the following needs to occur:[10]

• more than half of the total national votes must be in favour of the amendment; and
• more than half of the voters in a majority of states (i.e. at least four out of six) must vote in favour.

If more than half of the total national votes, or more than half of the electors in at least three states, votes against an amendment, the referendum would not be successful.[11][12]

Voting in the referendum was mandatory for all eligible Australian citizens (and some British subjects).[13][14] A total of 17,676,347 voters were registered on the electoral roll, and therefore required to either vote in person, by post or by phone. This was 2.6% larger than the electoral roll of the 2022 election.[15]

The AEC estimated the cost of the referendum will be about $450 million, where the federal government had supplied $364 million in the most recent budget to deliver the referendum. Funding for the referendum was provided to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and National Indigenous Australians Agency in the October 2022 Australian federal budget, with a total distribution of $75.2 million (excluding Contingency Reserves) over two years (FY2022–24).[16][17]

• $52.6 million for the Australian Electoral Commission to prepare for and deliver the referendum
• $16.1 million for the Australian Electoral Commission to increase the percentage of eligible First Nations people enrolled to vote
• $6.5 million for the National Indigenous Australians Agency to support preparations for the referendum, including the relevant governance structures

There is an additional $160 million of the federal Contingency Reserve available to deliver the referendum.[16] In May 2023 the government announced a total of A$10.5 million in the 2023 budget to improve mental health services for Indigenous people in the lead-up to the referendum.[18]

The government originally attempted to remove the requirement for an official yes/no pamphlet along with other proposed changes to the referendum process in the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022 (Cth), arguing that a physical pamphlet was outdated and that information could instead be distributed online or via television.[19] Instead, the government proposed funding an education campaign to inform Australians about the referendum and to "counter misinformation".[20] However, the pamphlet was ultimately retained in order to secure bipartisan support for the bill.[21] Following this, parliamentarians who voted for and against the constitutional amendment bill drafted the pamphlet detailing their Yes and No cases, with each essay approved by a majority of those MPs.[22] This approach came under scrutiny from organisations such as The Greens, who have wanted these statements to be independently fact-checked, as there is no requirement for the pamphlets to be truthful.[23]

On 18 July 2023, the pamphlets for Yes and No campaigns were published on the AEC website.[24][25]

On 11 August 2023, referendum pamphlets began to be posted to households.[26]

Key dates in relation to the voting process for the referendum are:[27][28]

• 11 September – Writ issued
• 11 September – Applications for postal voting opens
• 18 September (8pm) – Close of electoral roll
• 25 September – Remote voting commences
• 2 October – Early voting centres open in Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia
• 3 October[lower-alpha 1] – Early voting centres open in Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia.
• 11 October (6pm) – Applications for postal voting closes
• 14 October – Referendum Day
• 27 October – Last day for receipt of postal votes
• 20 December – Last day for return of writ

The following tables summarise the positions of registered political parties at the federal level. Disagreement between federal party rooms and state-level party branches within the Liberal–National Coalition is discussed below.

Nationals leader David Littleproud announced on 28 November 2022 that his party would not support the Voice, with Senator for the Northern Territory Jacinta Price speaking out strongly against it. The decision led to Andrew Gee leaving the party to sit as an independent.[74][75] The Nationals oppose the Voice on a federal level and in two states (South Australia and Victoria), although the party supports it in New South Wales,[51] and Western Australia.[76][77]

Federally, the Liberal Party opposed the Voice, with leader Peter Dutton repeatedly asking for more information before they could make a decision, before deciding on 5 April 2023 to reject the Voice. The Liberals offered an alternative proposal and do support the constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians. Only backbenchers have been allowed a conscience vote on the issue, while members of the Coalition Shadow Ministry are obliged to oppose the Voice. Despite the Liberal Party's federal position, the party is supportive of the Voice in New South Wales and Tasmania.[53][78] The Western Australian branch was initially supportive, but changed their position in August 2023.[79] On 3 September, Dutton committed to hold a second referendum on Indigenous recognition if the Voice referendum failed, while also expressing support for his party's election proposal for a series of legislated local bodies (without a national one).[80]

Former Liberal MP, and Indigenous Australians Minister, Ken Wyatt, quit the Liberal Party on 6 April 2023, in response to the Federal Liberal Party's opposition to the Voice.[81] Later, Julian Leeser (the member for Berowra) resigned from the Shadow Cabinet to support the Voice and campaign for an improved wording, although he did not quit the party and still remains in Parliament as a Liberal backbencher.[82][83]

Since the resignation of Dominic Perrottet (a supporter of the Voice) as leader of the NSW Liberal Party after he led the party to defeat at the 2023 state election, most of the support for the Voice from Liberal members has come from Tasmania or from backbenchers, despite state branches refusing to bind their party or frontbenches by a stance (despite the federal Coalition binding its shadow ministers to oppose the Voice). Of other state Liberal leaders, New South Wales leader Mark Speakman[84][85] supports the Voice, while Western Australian leader Libby Mettam initially supported the Voice, but then began opposing it due to the state's controversial Aboriginal heritage laws. The Liberals for Yes campaign was launched in 2023 as an attempt to attract support for the Voice from centre-right, liberal conservative individuals.[86]

Similar to New South Wales, the Victorian Liberal Party has allowed its members a conscience vote on the issue. The Victorian branch has not yet declared its stance on the Voice. However, party leader John Pesutto confirmed his personal stance[87] and other members have voiced their personal opinions (see below).[88]

The Yes campaign held demonstrations around the country. Some 20,000 people attended the Brisbane rally.[177]

• Uphold and Recognise (2015) was founded by lawyer Damien Freeman and Coalition spokesperson on Indigenous Australians, Julian Leeser (who is no longer with the group).[176] It is chaired by Sean Gordon, who is co-convenor of the Liberals for Yes group,[178][179] and has been a member of the First Nations Referendum Working Group,[180][179] and includes former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt as a board member. It follows a centre-right approach.[176]
• The Uluru Dialogue (2017) is a collective that includes creators of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, along with various academics and lawyers based at the University of New South Wales; it is chaired by Megan Davis and Pat Anderson.[176]
• From the Heart (2020) operates under the auspices of Noel Pearson's Cape York Institute in north Queensland.[176]
• Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition is a group of prominent Australians co-chaired by the director of the Business Council of Australia, Danny Gilbert, and Aboriginal filmmaker Rachel Perkins. Board members include Noel Pearson; Tony Nutt, former principal adviser to prime minister John Howard;[176] and author and Indigenous Maritime Union of Australia official Thomas Mayo.[lower-alpha 4] This group runs the Yes23 campaign.[182]
• Parliamentary friends of the Uluru Statement (launched on 13 February 2023) is a non-partisan group co-chaired by Labor's Gordon Reid; Liberal Bridget Archer; and Independent Allegra Spender.[176]

According to Mayo, all of these campaign groups are working towards the same goal.[176]

• The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council, based on a framework and foundation of subsidiarity.[183]
• Jack Beetson, co-founder and executive director of Aboriginal education initiative Literacy for Life sits on the referendum working group.[184]

A No campaign car sticker in Queensland. As widely predicted, Queensland had the highest No vote in the country.

• Advance (formerly Advance Australia), a conservative lobby group, has set up a No campaign which includes new social media advertising campaign titled "The Voice is Not Enough" (or just "Not Enough"),[185] aimed at a young demographic and targeting the "progressive no" vote, suggesting that the Voice would be too weak, or is not the main priority for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A number of people have accused Advance of misrepresenting their views and using photographs of them in its campaign without their permission. Advance has been funded by millionaires such as Jet Couriers founder Brett Ralph, Kennards Self Storage head Sam Kennard, building material scion Rodney O'Neil, health company chief Marcus Blackmore and fund manager Simon Fenwick.[186][187] In addition, the group has created a "Referendum News" Facebook page[188] showing anti-Voice posts, and has advertised on Facebook and Instagram.[189]
• Australians for Unity, created on 11 May 2023, led by Warren Mundine and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price – both Indigenous Australians. This is a merger of two key former campaigns:[18]
  • Recognise a Better Way was led by Mundine and included former Nationals deputy PM John Anderson, and former Keating government minister Gary Johns.[176] The campaign, launched in January 2023, was set up by a group called the Voice No Case Committee. The committee included four Indigenous members: Mundine; Price (who left the group in February 2023 to join Advance[176]); founder of the Kings Creek Station Ian Conway; and owner of Kemara enterprises Bob Liddle.[190][191] Price officially deleted her membership of the Voice No Case Committee from the Senate register of pecuniary interests on 13 August 2023 (although she had never disclosed her interest before).[192]
  • Fair Australia was a No campaign led by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (who was originally part of the Recognise a Better Way group[18]) under the auspices of Advance.[176][lower-alpha 5]
• Blak Sovereign Movement,[193] including Senator Lidia Thorpe, who spoke at the National Press Club on 16 August.[194]

The government launched its official advertising campaign about the referendum in May 2022, to provide information about what the proposal is, what the Voice would do and how it would be set up, and to encourage Australians to prepare themselves for it.[195][196] The AEC (which is an independent statutory authority) launched its major education phase in August 2023, aimed at helping and educating voters to prepare for the referendum.[197]

An analysis of various contributors to the campaigns published in early August suggested that the No campaign represented by Advance Australia were using fear as their underlying message, and focussing on prominent Yes campaigners such as Thomas Mayo and Teela Reid. The Blak Sovereign Movement argued that a treaty should be negotiated ahead of establishing the Voice. The Uluru Dialogue was using a sense of pride to show how the nation would be a better place with the Voice in place. Yes23 emphasised fairness and integrity. The report analysed the relative levels of success of the different approaches.[198]

The Yes and No campaigns started advertising on social media in early 2023, and although both had spent around A$110,000 on advertising on Facebook between mid-March and mid-June 2023, it was found that each had targeted different audiences. The biggest spenders were Fair Australia and Yes23.[199] From 3 September 2023, with John Farnham's support, "You're the Voice" was used to advocate for the Yes campaign as a soundtrack to a video ad.[200] The video for the Yes campaign, which aired on several platforms, includes the 1983 America's Cup yacht race (won by an Australian yacht); the handback of Uluru to its traditional owners in 1985; and the landmark Mabo land rights case in 1992.[201]

At the end of August, the top five items on Facebook and X included several that were critical of the Voice and served the No campaign. Their analysis showed how negative stories can have the strongest impact on people's attention, and also how far articles on traditional media could reach on social media. At that time, the Yes23 campaign had spent more than any other campaign group; however, they were less geographically focused than spending by No campaigns. It concluded that while there were many more Yes than No ads published, its message was spread over 33 disparate themes, whole No ads predominantly covered only seven, which were all negative.[202] By the end of September, online advertising by both camps was heavily focused on the Tasmania and South Australia, which were regarded as "battleground" states.[203] Fair Australia started using TikTok in May, and was using it far more extensively and proving more successful than the Yes campaign by October. Yes campaigners on other social media such as Facebook, X, and Instagram had large followings. This may reflect the fact that the younger demographic on TikTok were more likely to be Yes voters, and the No campaign wanted to reach them.[204]

There has been considerable activity in news and other traditional media from both sides of the debate,[205] including TV news (used by around 58% of Australians in 2023), news published online (51%), and in print (19%).[206]

Mass media in Australia are highly concentrated,[207] with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Australia dominating the landscape, owning over two-thirds of leading newspapers along with most online news websites;[208][209] three News Corp outlets occupy the top three positions in the nation, based on popularity and viewership.[210] An interim report commissioned by the Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission group as part of its "Murdoch Referendum Accountability Project" was published in September 2023. Adelaide University academic Victoria Fielding and a team of researchers analysed data on reporting and commentary by News Corp about the Voice between July and August 2023, covering The Australian, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, and Sky News Australia. It found that on the whole, news reporting was unbiased and accurate, but the opinion pieces were almost all in favour of the No vote. The majority of News Corp's content was commentary, not reporting, so when the various articles and videos were examined together, around 70% of the coverage favoured No arguments. Andrew Bolt and Peta Credlin were the top contributors in favour of a No vote.[211]

In July 2023, a cartoon ad promoting the No campaign in the lead-up to the referendum was published by Advance Australia in the Australian Financial Review, featuring caricatures of Thomas Mayo a signatory and advocate of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, along with, MP and Yes advocate Kate Chaney, and her father businessman Michael Chaney. This led to bipartisan condemnation of the ad as "racist".[212] The AFR later apologised for the ad.[213][214]

In July 2023, Big W, an Australian chain of discount department stores, announced it would stop its in-store announcements that expressed support for the Indigenous voice to parliament.[215][216][217]

In early October, the AEC asked the Yes campaign to remove a social media post that contained a misleading graphic that could cause No voters to cast an invalid vote.[218]

In early October, the AEC asked the Yes campaign to move their signage away from theirs to avoid confusion, because both were of a similar purple colour.[219][220][221][222]

Some opponents of the Voice, primarily right-wing and far-right politicians and commentators, internet trolls, and members of the sovereign citizen movement, have spread misinformation, disinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories regarding the referendum online. This activity is most prominent on Telegram and Twitter.[223] According to independent monitors and fact-checkers, online debate has focused on race, particularly on Twitter. Ben James, editor of the Australian Associated Press' FactCheck team, which monitors content on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, says that the amount of misinformation and disinformation had by early September exceeded that which had been observed on social media ahead of the 2022 Australian election. Leading Indigenous campaigner Thomas Mayo has been subjected to a great deal of racial abuse. While some misinformation has been observed from people on both sides of the discussion, there was generally more on the No side – although it is noted that not all of the claims emanated from the official No campaign. Social media experts have observed "bot-like behaviour" that spread the same content across social media.[224]

A preprint study in September 2023 showed Yes tweets dominating the Twitter platform, including amplification of misinformation and conspiracy theories created by the No side, with the Yes voters trying to fact-check and correct them. Politicians and media were also increasing the themes of "racial division" and "hidden agenda" on Twitter, in particular Sky News Australia. Many of the No accounts appeared to be recently created and suspicious, although there was little evidence of social bots. The preprint concluded "Overall, our findings reveal a media ecosystem fraught with confusion, conspiratorial sensemaking, and strategic media manipulation".[225]

It was reported that much of the misleading information and disinformation has been promoted by internet trolls linked to the Chinese Communist Party, with China being accused of espionage, attempting to undermine Western influence and attempting to silence Western criticism of human rights abuses in China. An analysis by Recorded Future confirmed the findings of Australian Strategic Policy Institute in this regard but found no evidence that Iran or Russia were trying to influence the debate.[223]

Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers said that social media had not adequately dealt with misinformation and disinformation on their platforms; of 47 reported by the AEC as being of concern, only 16 had been taken down.[15]

RMIT FactLab, which had been checking some of the claims made by the No campaign, including that the Uluru Statement comprised more than one page, was suspended by Meta as its key fact-checking organisation in August 2023 because its certification from the International Fact-Checking Network had expired in December 2022.[226][227][228] However, it continues its work and is regularly published by ABC News.[229]

Concerns were aired about the quality of public debate, by both campaigns and private individuals on both sides of the debate,[230] in some cases describing it as divisive and "toxic".[231] Political commentator Laura Tingle described the debate as "bitter", criticising the No campaign in particular.[232][232]

Marcia Langton was accused of calling No voters "racists",[233] after The Australian published an article headlined "Langton brands No voters 'racist, stupid'";[234] it was shown afterwards that she was referring to the tactics of No campaigners, not the voters, which she said were "based in racism and stupidity".[235]

There has been racism directed against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,[236] including criticism of unrelated topics such as Welcomes to Country, claims that Indigenous people have special treatment, and promulgation of racist stereotypes.[237] "Progressive No" campaigner Lidia Thorpe, who herself has been subject to racist abuse and death threats, exposed a video of a hooded man making racist remarks, burning an Aboriginal flag, and giving a Nazi salute.[236] Abuse towards campaigners on both sides reportedly affected the mental health of several people.[238]