Australia has overwhelmingly voted against recognising Indigenous people in the constitution, a result that has left First Nations people deeply hurt. The referendum effectively became a vote on whether Indigenous people have a right to exist in their own land, with many feeling rejected by their fellow Australians.
The campaign was marked by vitriol, misinformation, and racism, according to Lorena Allam, a First Nations journalist. She noted that the debate was neither respectful nor informed, driven by petty grievances and conspiracy theories based on fear and ignorance. The loss of bipartisanship in November last year, before the question was even settled, set the tone for the decline.
Despite the outcome, the Yes campaign saw an unprecedented volunteer effort, with over 70,000 volunteers knocking on 320,000 doors and making more than a million phone calls. Dean Parkin, the Yes campaign director, described it as the largest volunteer army in Australian history and urged them not to disband but to continue supporting First Nations people and tackling racism.
Former Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt encouraged No voters to stay involved, arguing that if they opposed the Voice because they doubted its effectiveness, they should commit to doing more to support Aboriginal people. The race commissioner, Chin Tan, called racism a 'tentacled monster' and urged Australia to urgently adopt a national anti-racism framework.
For First Nations journalists, the campaign was gruelling, exposing them daily to harmful depictions of their people. The result has changed the nation forever, and the full impact will take months or years to grasp.
