‘Nothing changes if it’s yes or no’: Lidia Thorpe

Kat Wong and Poppy Johnston | September 25, 2023

Nothing will change for Indigenous Australians regardless of the referendum’s outcome, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says.

Voters will head to the polls in just under 3-weeks time, where they will be asked to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first Australians by enshrining an advisory body known as the voice.

But the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Warrung woman, who has been an outspoken critic of the referendum and a leader within the progressive ‘no’ movement, says the voice will not help Indigenous Australians.

“Nothing changes if it’s a yes or no vote,” she told ABC’s Radio National on Monday.

“Our people are still dying at the hands of the system, the system is still racist.”

Communities have become divided over the vote and Senator Thorpe says her people are hurting more now than they were during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.

“There are communities being torn apart, families are fighting one another (on) either yes or no,” she said.

“And what do we get at the end of the day?… We get crumbs on the table and that is not good enough.”  

Senator Thorpe says she’s willing to negotiate with the government, but needs to see change for Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander people, specifically calling for the implementation of recommendations from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Meanwhile, Australians living in remote communities are set to begin casting their votes in the Indigenous voice referendum at mobile voting stations.

Helicopters, four-wheel drives and even boats are being used by the Australian Electoral Commission to reach remote corners of the country.

The efforts will give all Australians the chance to participate in the first referendum to change the constitution since the country vetoed the republic in 1999.

Given the logistically challenging task of accessing remote communities, voting in these areas has opened 19 days ahead of the October 14 referendum date.

Early voting at other locations will start on October 2.

A successful referendum needs a majority of states to vote ‘yes’ as well as the majority of Australians.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a joint parliamentary committee will be set up to oversee the creation of the voice advisory group if Australians vote ‘yes’ in the referendum.

The committee would have co-chairs from Labor and the coalition to ensure there is broad support for the legislation, Mr Albanese said.

“It will be important and that way, you won’t have chopping and changing,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“This is a constructive proposal to go forward because if Australians vote ‘yes’ on October 14, I believe firmly it will be a moment of national unity.”

The ‘no’ campaign maintains the voice would only keep Australia divided rather than improve the lives of Indigenous people.

“The feeling on the ground is that this is about those in the cities who are trying to impose their thinking onto regional and remote Australia,” Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told Sky News.