A majority of First Nations people support the voice. Why don’t non-Indigenous Australians believe this?

‘The onus is not on First Nations leaders and communities to “step into line”, but on the media and political leaders not to misrepresent their attitudes.’ Photograph: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Conducting focus groups of non-Indigenous Australians on their attitudes to the voice can be tough going, even for someone whose job it is to listen quietly to casual racism, but I guess someone has got to do it.

I’ve been conducting waves of these groups as well as advising and reviewing many surveys on the voice, published and private, since October last year – and some patterns are emerging. Support is holding up despite increased political tussles. There is still of course a long way to go.