Albo casts vote in historic referendum

Mr Albanese was in the inner-western Sydney suburb on Saturday morning where he emphatically dropped his ballot, presumably with a ‘Yes’ vote, into the ballot box at the Marrickville Town Hall early polling station.

He was met by a small crowd who had turned out to cast their own vote ahead of the official Voice vote day on October 14.

Volunteers, both with the ‘Yes’ campaign and the Electoral Commission, were all smiles as the nation’s leader entered the polling area, accompanied by his son Nathan.

“Yes for recognition, Yes for listening, Yes for better outcomes,” Mr Albanese wrote in a social media post, accompanied by a photo of he and his son voting.

Early polling stations opened in some states on Monday, and were all open across Australia by Tuesday due to some jurisdictions enjoying a public holiday.

This will be the first referendum Australia has had since 1999.

If the Yes vote is successful, the Voice will provide an avenue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to advise the government on policy and legislation issues that directly impact them.

The most recent Newspoll suggested the Yes vote would fail 36 to 56 per cent.

Meanwhile, Australia’s former chief justice Robert French KC says Australians are “better than” abiding by the No campaigns slogan “if you don’t know, vote no,” in an address to the National Press Club on Friday.

“It invites us to a resentful, uninquiring passivity. Australians – whether they vote Yes or No – are better than that,” he said.

“We look forward. We can also look back to better understand where we have come from and where we are now.”

The overwhelming majority of legal experts in Australia say the proposed amendment Australians are voting on is constitutionally sound and would “enhance” the system of government, Mr French said.

Earlier this week, Lidia Thorpe accused the Prime Minister of not supporting her after a video produced by neo-Nazis aired disturbing threats against the Senator.

Speaking to The Project on Thursday, Senator Thorpe responded to the distressing threats made against her by far-right extremists and flagged a spike in racism ahead of October 14.

“As far as I‘m concerned, the Prime Minister is disingenuous with his gesture of this so-called Voice and referendum bringing us together,” Senator Thorpe said.

“We told the Prime Minister that this would divide this country and we told the Prime Minister that this would embolden the racists, but he went ahead anyway.

“So, it is on his head and he should have cancelled the referendum when he was told.”

On Monday night, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told a few hundred ‘No’ supporters in Perth she didn’t need a Voice to Parliament to achieve all she has.

“We’ve got to fix the structures that already exist instead of muddying the waters and adding more bureaucracy and shoving it into our constitution,” Senator Price told the crowd in Perth Convention and Entertainment Centre’s Riverside Theatre, to a standing ovation.

Outside the venue, a group of about 40 ‘Yes’ protesters called out the ‘No’ campaign’s alleged “racist” and “bigoted” rhetoric in similar scenes to demonstrations held at ‘No’ rallies in Brisbane and Adelaide in September.

Originally published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese casts Voice vote in home electorate of Marrickville