The leading organisations for the yes and no campaigns in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum will officially launch in February, recruiting volunteers and kicking off a fight that will run for at least six months.
The yes group, From the Heart, will launch its grassroots field campaign at an Indigenous cultural centre in Adelaide.
“It is this grassroots activity through millions of conversations around the country that will see the referendum succeed,” said Thomas Mayo, a From the Heart campaigner and Torres Strait Islander man.
Prominent critics of the voice, including Warren Mundine and Senator Jacinta Price, plan to visit every state for community events against the referendum.
The Australian Electoral Commission is also preparing a major public education campaign around voting processes, warning of misinformation and a “huge knowledge gap” among Australians who have never voted in a referendum.
The Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, confirmed last week that the government would introduce legislation for the referendum when parliament resumes, setting up a likely window for the vote between August and November.
Both sides had promised further escalation of their campaigns in early 2023, and revealed more of their plans on Tuesday.
From the Heart, a coordinating organisation for the yes vote, will launch its field campaign for volunteers, door-knockers and grassroots groups on 23 February at Adelaide’s Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute.
“A wide range of organisations have already signed up to take part including church groups, local councils, civil society organisations, sporting groups, businesses and unions,” Mayo said.
He said From the Heart would provide resources and support to help organisers coordinate their own activities around the country, with a focus on campaigning in workplaces and communities, and encouraging supporters to hold events in their own homes with neighbours. The organisation is hiring field organising leads and event coordinators.
One component of the yes campaign involves the Victorian Women’s Trust rolling out its “kitchen table” conversations model of campaigning, to be known as Together Yes. Supporters will be encouraged to host their own events with 10 friends, using resources provided by From the Heart, with hopes participants will in turn convince 10 more people to take part.
The no campaign will feature coordination and research from lobby group Advance Australia and the Institute of Public Affairs, as well as prominent support from past and present Coalition politicians. Mundine, a former Liberal party candidate and a Yuin, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr man, said the no side would ramp up in February.
“We’re recruiting a lot of people, volunteers, and hitting the ground,” he said. “We’ll be out and about with a number of people speaking at community events, fetes. Jacinta [Price] and I will be organising our own events in targeted areas.”
Mundine said the no campaign would pour resources into television and newspaper ads, plus promote the views of Indigenous people critical of the voice.
“There’s not a state we won’t be visiting,” he said. “We’ve done polling, we’ll be looking at the areas we can make most impact.”
Mundine last month said he was hopeful of giving presentations against the voice to corporate Australia, saying no campaigners had been invited by some large businesses to provide a “balanced” view of the referendum to their employees. But on Tuesday he complained the campaign had since been met with a “closed door” by corporates.
He said the campaign was still working to set up a financial entity eligible for tax-deductible gift status, similar to that granted to the Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition group in the October budget – a key criticism from opponents.
“We’re getting on with things, but this just confirms to us, which we knew all along, the mighty beast we’re up against,” Mundine said.
As the AEC prepares its education campaign, its acting commissioner, Jeff Pope, said it would not factcheck claims from the two sides.
He said 7.4 million enrolled voters had never voted at a referendum, the last being in 1999, and that the AEC’s campaign would instead be a resource for first-time referendum voters, as well as addressing electoral misinformation and disinformation.
Pope cited examples including incorrect claims that a separate enrolment is needed to vote at a referendum, or that it would be a voluntary vote like the 2017 marriage equality postal survey.
He said the referendum was compulsory and no separate enrolment was required.
