The bell has rung on the final round of the voice referendum. Voting in remote areas has already begun, amid declining polling numbers for the yes campaign. Even the prime minister is now using language that might be construed as preparing yes campaigners for a result that none of them wanted to publicly consider, but is looking more likely by the day.
Anthony Albanese told Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, he hoped Australians would vote yes to unify the nation. But, he said, the voice debate had already succeeded in raising awareness about the gap in life outcomes between First Nations and other Australians.
“I think the awareness and consciousness of Indigenous affairs has been raised to the point whereby you’ll never again have – I don’t believe – a situation where you won’t have Indigenous affairs raised on the floor of the parliament,” Albanese said.
“For a long period of time, it wasn’t front and centre of issues.”
Well, it is now. The voice debate has certainly put us in front of the Australian people. At times it has felt like being a punching bag, belted about by unrelated resentments: about welcomes to country, about perceived special treatment of Aboriginal people, with nasty stereotypes disguised as jokes about “violent black men”, with outrage over an allegation that “racist tactics” were being used in the debate, followed with far less outrage at the presence of actual racists in the debate.
It has been a long fight, the blows landing hardest on First Nations people. Between March and June, the 13Yarn helpline, the 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention service designed and delivered by Indigenous people, saw a 108% increase in callers reporting abuse, racism or trauma as a driver of their distress, compared to the same period last year.
Regardless of the result on 14 October, the bag of grievances is open now, and surely harder to ignore.
What will history say are the highlights of this campaign? That lies and disinformation, and mean-spiritedness on all sides were trumped by respectful conversations? Or will it be the “wacky and extreme causes” drawn to (unofficial) no rallies, promoted by a pro-Kremlin activist and attended by neo-Nazis?
Will we recall any landmark speeches of the era? Or just remember that Warren Mundine said he’d like to watch his cousin, the boxer Anthony Mundine, punch up the yes campaigner Thomas Mayo?
Will we remember the laundry list of Australian musicians holding gigs in support of yes and John Farnham in recovery from cancer surgery handing over his iconic song for free? Or the focus on the opinions of Kamahl over a few days in September, as he flipped from no to yes to no again? That Sam Newman asked Australians to boo the welcome to country at the footy, or that Cathy Freeman asked us to “stand together … to recognise Indigenous peoples in our Constitution for the very first time”?
The choice, in case this point is still being lost in the noise, is to vote yes or no to the proposition to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution via a voice to parliament. The voice – the form, powers and procedures of which would be determined by parliament after a successful vote – would allow Aboriginal and Islander people to make representations to government on matters that affect their lives, in the hope that such advice would lead to better laws and polices. The proposal has been criticised as too mild and ineffective, and as going too far.
In a speech on Wednesday, the leading yes campaigner Noel Pearson called the voice a “safe and responsible middle path”.
“Only love can move us now,” Pearson said. He said he felt “hope and terror” in putting the question to the Australian people.
“No one wants their invitation of friendship and love to be unrequited,” he told the National Press Club. “One may sometimes feel it would have been easier to have never extended the hand of invitation From the Heart. But whether out of naïveté or faith, we had to ask Uluru’s question: will you walk with us on this journey to a better future?”
The gap will close, he said, when Aboriginal people are empowered to take responsibility for their destiny.
“Blame us when you give us a voice. Hold us accountable, too, when we do this. We want our right to take responsibility. Allow us to empower our people to take charge of our destiny.”
Pearson spoke of a future Australia that he hoped would be kinder and friendlier to Indigenous children.
“Voting yes crosses the bridge on the pathway to peace,” he said.
The leading no campaigner Warren Mundine spoke at the same venue the day before. He spoke of future war the voice would create, while arguing that we also should move on from the conflict of the past.
Mundine called the Uluru statement from the heart a “symbolic declaration of war against modern Australia”.
He said “many Aboriginals feel angry about past wrongdoings” but the past could not be undone, and it was time to “move on”.
Well meaning Australians would vote yes out of “misplaced guilt” about Australia’s history, he said, and that would be a mistake.
“I don’t think these supporters have grasped the path this referendum is taking us down,” he said. “The voice is a political ploy to grab power, not just from the Australian nation, but also from traditional owners.” He failed to note that many of those advocating for the voice are themselves traditional owners or native title holders.
Like the yes camp, the no side are also now talking about the day after the fight is done. Mundine said he believed the biggest issue would be to “get up in the morning and fix the problems that people are suffering”.
“What we’ve got to do is bury the hatchet and start working together,” Mundine told the press club. “We cannot lay down in the foetal position for the rest of our lives.”
No we can’t, and we don’t want to. But, to extend the boxing analogy, it’s a familiar act of self-defence for First Nations people when the blows keep coming.
In Australia, support is available at 13YARN on 13 92 76 for Indigenous Australians as well as Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. International helplines can be found at befrienders.org
