It was easy to find "no" voters as the mums and dads collected their children from Richardson Primary School on Monday. As a voting centre on Saturday, it recorded the strongest rejection of the Voice in the ACT (58 per cent who voted there voted "no" to 42 per cent "yes").
Even Aboriginal families voted "no".
"Elders on social media were saying 'no' so you've got to listen to elders," Alice Shillabeer said. Her husband (and so their children) are Aboriginal. She said he didn't vote "yes" either.
She was unhappy about the lack of detail on how the Voice would have functioned. "Even the government wouldn't tell us what the 'yes' vote meant. And they've wasted so much money."
Other "no" voters said they were really in favour but "the wrong question was asked". One who didn't want to be identified also said the absence of detail put him off. "It's like buying a motor car but they haven't developed the engine yet."
According to the 2021 census, Richardson is less well off than both the ACT and Australia in general. Around 20 per cent have a degree compared with 43 per cent for the ACT as a whole and 26 per cent for Australia as a whole.
The shops at Richardson are boarded up so people often go to nearby Isabella Plains to shop.
But the no voters were there, too.
"I voted 'no' because it's a massive waste of money," carpenter Ted Kenney said as he sat in his truck. "And in all my life, I've never seen people struggling so much with the cost of living."
"I thought it was a waste of time," Sam Mafi who is married to a Tongan said. "I did research and I saw that Aboriginal people said it would divide them."
There were "yes" voters in Richardson: teacher Mike Desmond was wielding the school crossing lollipop. "I think it's a shame on Australia - an absolute shame," he said of the "no" vote. "We had the opportunity to recognise First Nations peoples in the constitution and to give them some sort of autonomy in the future."
But he was a rare voice.
Tradie Nathan Steffens said he didn't vote. A single father bringing up two kids, in the past he said he hadn't voted and just paid the fine.
He said he didn't know enough about the Voice. There wasn't enough detail, he said in what was a common theme.
"Albo was flying about and I thought he missed the big picture."
