The Yes23 campaign to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution “ignored” outer urban areas and was an “echo chamber of elites talking to elites”, the Labor MP Mike Freelander has said.
Freelander, the member for Macarthur in south-west Sydney, is one of several Labor MPs “very disappointed” but not surprised by the yes side’s poor showing outside inner-city areas.
Privately, MPs say the result was unsurprising in outer suburbs and regions with higher rates of mortgage stress and lower rates of education beyond completing high school. They are not panicking, however, because they reject suggestions the Albanese government has taken its focus away from the cost of living.
Freelander said in Macarthur, where yes lost 35% to 65%, the result was “worse than I thought, but expected”.
He blamed “the way the campaign was conducted: outer western Sydney was ignored”.
“It was an echo chamber, elites talking to elites and patting themselves on the back,” Freelander told Guardian Australia.
“A lot of people felt disfranchised. The campaign wasn’t run here, the marches and meetings were in the inner city. It was very poor.
“Constitutional recognition is important, it’s what I want to achieve. But for the average person, it won’t change their lives. It’s sad, because there won’t be another opportunity to do this for a while.
“People feel the quality of life is going down and government makes it worse, with large targets for immigration and people forced out of affordable housing. They think we haven’t solved [the cost-of-living crisis] and that [the voice] was a project for elites, not for them.
“The government has to focus on cost of living.”
Freelander blames the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, who he said “completely politicised” the campaign, but also pointed to conspiracy theories such as voters bringing pens for fear electoral officials would erase votes in pencil.
Other MPs were also frustrated with the yes campaign, citing the fact that events in their electorates were organised primarily by Labor volunteers, but declined to comment.
In the electorate of Hunter, centred on Singleton and Cessnock in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, fewer than 29% of voters backed the voice, potentially the lowest number of any Labor-held seats nationwide.
The local Labor member, Dan Repacholi, said the campaign in his area “went well”, praising volunteers for hard work, but conceded that many voters in his electorate were not raising the referendum with him as a major issue.
“The cost-of-living issues in the whole of Australia are the major thing people are talking about … They’re more keen to hear about cost of living and how we’re addressing those issues – that’s the big thing,” Repacholi said.
Luke Gosling, the member for the Northern Territory seat of Solomon, saw only about 35% of voters back the voice. He said one of the many reasons why nearly two-thirds of voters opposed the referendum was the perception among some that “Territory voices would be drowned out by the east coast” if the voice was set up.
“It was something I tried to address. There was a real commitment from us that Aboriginal people in disadvantaged areas would be well represented in the voice. I’m not sure if that message was well understood,” Gosling said.
The MP said many problems in the NT stemmed from a lack of resources and representation, raising the possibility of increasing the territory’s representation in the Senate as a solution.
“My hope is, moving forward, we’ve got to listen to Aboriginal people more, work with them to overcome the challenges or obstacles to economic and social development of the NT,” Gosling said.
“One of the ways we need to look at that is the representation in federal parliament. We can’t lose this opportunity, we have to actively listen.”
In Blair, west of Brisbane, yes attracted just 30% of the vote. The local member, Shayne Neumann, scotched suggestions Labor had been too focused on the voice.
“Governments can do many things at once, that’s why there are multiple ministers,” he said, arguing that the claim Labor had taken focus off cost of living was just a “political line” from its Coalition opponents.
“I agree with the prime minister that we should redouble our efforts in closing the gap and I said that at trades hall [on Saturday].”
Freelander said “what we do for our Indigenous friends will take a lot of working through … we won’t have answers now”.
