Don't just vote YES, Voice up!

A guide for swinging the swingers to a "hell-yes" at the referendum

So I’m not going to set out here to do an overview of the Voice. There are ample resources for this, including this podcast I did with Thomas Mayo, author of The Voice to Parliament:

It’s a truly beautiful interview. I get Thomas to read out the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which made many of you - and me - cry. You might also like to listen to the podcast interview I did with Professor Megan Davis, one of the architects of the Voice:

Nope. Instead, today I’m making a case for every Australian who plans to vote Yes to go beyond just ticking a box at the booth. I’m going to invite you to become a brave ambassador. To step into the arena. To “voice” up.

By way of background…

For anyone here who is not Australian or is Australian but has been living under a boulder:

On October 14, every Australian citizen over the age of 18 will be required to vote¹:

To alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?

That’s it. It’s that simple. Because this is how making changes to the constitution works. Australians are not being asked to understand and evaluate a whole bunch of detail; we are being asked to vote on the principle. Parliament does the rest later. And so…

• The parliament – including Peter Dutton, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and all the opposition members now and into the future – will design the Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.

• The Voice will give advice only.

• The government will be under no obligation to act on that advice.

• The advice will not interfere with parliamentary processes or clog up the courts.

• The advice will only be about matters directly affecting First Nations communities.

Yep, that simple.

Australia’s First Nations peoples suffer unfathomable disadvantage and decades of efforts to address it have failed. Studies around the world show that when Indigenous people have a say in the issues that affect them, better outcomes are achieved.

The bar for changing the constitution is high - there must be a majority of people overall, as well as a majority of people in the majority of States and Territories.

I’m not going to go into further facts, nuts or bolts here. That’s because 1. There are a stack of resources that explain things, like this Guardian voice explainer and my Thomas Mayo Wild episode (also see various links to sites in the guff below). Plus, 2. More facts and details are not going to sway things. Also see below.

When I left Australia, it was looking like the country would vote Yes. The conservative Opposition has since run a highly political scare campaign which has worked. The “hard” Yes vote is now sitting at 28% versus the hard No vote at 42%.

Something that many people don’t realise is that:

In Australia it is legal to lie during referendum campaigns. I know, I know.

Insane, but true.

The No camp has capitalised on this. They have totally swamped TikTok with negative messaging. And the Nine papers also revealed this week that the No camp is deliberately coaching their campaigners to tell voters the change could “mean separate laws, separate economies and separate leaders” and to raise doubts with them rather than talk facts, like suggesting it will affect Australia Day and the passage of laws through parliament. All of which are lies.

The Yes campaign is now having to put most of its efforts into countering misinformation (and dealing with the violence and abuse this misinformation has created²).

It’s godawful that this is how things are being played out. But what are we going to do about it?

We are going to have to make magic happen!

Australia will most likely wake up October 15 to a Cruel Fear-Based No, unless something magic happens. How do we make this magic? I draw on marketing guru Seth Godin’s mantra³ for making change happen:

We show the world that people like us do things like this!

And so…

• We don’t just contribute our 1 x Yes vote on polling day. We also tell the world that we’re voting Yes. We show everyone in our orbit that it is compassionate, cool, sexy, expansive, “good” and so very very Australian to vote Yes. I will outline ways to do this below.

• Plus, we have big, challenging conversations with people who are undecided and/or have had their fears and doubts skewed by the No camp’s misinformation campaign.

OK, to this end, a bunch of tips for Voicing up and making magic mayhem…

1. Young women, talk to your Dad!

Men over 50 are the biggest No voters. Dr Rebecca Huntley’s work has shown that older men are often very stuck in their ways, but if they are to be swayed it’s by their daughters. Young women of Australia, grab your Dads and take them for a walk or a beer and set them straight! We’re counting on you!

It reminds me of a campaign in 2008 led by actor Sarah Silverman. It was called The Great Schlep and it urged young Jews to “schlep” to Florida to tell their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama (and to withhold further visits if they didn’t comply). Daughters of Australia, schlep hard!

2. Forget “what”, let’s talk heart-based “why”

This whole bloody debate has been bogged down in the weeds of the “what” - details and legal intricacies etc, which benefits the No campaign. They have played on our fear that we don’t fully understand constitutional law or electoral processes and developed the slogan,“If you don’t know, vote no.”

This is a mindset that just stinks. And it can only be neutralised (so that people can make up their own minds without lies and their fear being manipulated) by switching the focus of the conversation to more emotional, compassionate factors.

Here are some of my emotional “why I’m voting Yes” arguments that might inspire your own:

• I’m voting Yes because First Nations leaders have invited us to support their solution for their people. Indigenous leaders have spent years consulting Aboriginal people across the country and developing what they feel is the best path forward. As my Dad said in exasperation months back, “Why don’t we just give them what they’re asking for…which is not bloody much all things considered?”

• I also like this from Indigenous rapper Briggsy: “No says you think the status quo is just fine.” It’s true, it does.

• I’m voting Yes, because No has become a wholly degraded option. The issue has been so politicised by Peter Dutton and other conservative forces that a No outcome can no longer be said to reflect a clear, balanced consideration of the issue by Australians. A No will be the result of lies and fear-mongering by politicians with vested interests. Which will say a shit tonne about us to the rest of the world, as per my post last week. How absolutely horrible if we wake up October 15 to this truth: That we were duped by nefarious forces into denying Indigenous people a simple, modest ask and our country a chance at healing.

• I’m voting Yes with respect for the progressive, calmly articulated counter points from the No side of things, such as needing Treaty as a priority and the doubts around whether a government will actually listen to an advisory group. Me, I think we can do Voice and Treaty. Yes, and. And I trust the Indigenous leaders who have argued for Voice first (Prof Megan Davis explains the reasoning in our interview). Also, can we be honest, a No vote will not signal to government that we need to do more (as claimed by the slipperier No crew); a Yes vote might. Which bring us to…

• A Yes is positive. It’s forward-leaning. No sees us give into fear, it’s a confession of failure, of a belief that if we attempted something new, we’d fuck it up. I think we exist in an era that needs a lot more “hell yes” and “Yes, let’s try a new way!” about the place. We need to see each other go out on limbs - to our edge - to make change happen. We want to see each other care, not be swindled by doom-pedlars. As Hannah wrote on her CheekMedia.co feed this week:

  “Get fucking brave, because Peter Dutton doesn’t want you to”.

• I’m voting Yes because it’s beautiful. This referendum is not complicated or problematic, despite what the No camp are trying to trick us into thinking. We don’t have to be experts in all the ins and outs. We can rest easy that the top legal minds in the country have triple-checked the details (and they have). We are just being asked if we think the constitution should recognise the First Peoples of Australia by giving them some say - an ability to advise - on issues affecting them.

3. If all else fails

Indigenous rapper Briggsy nails it: I’d sooner try “Yes” or even “of course”. Indeed, of course! Of course, we will say Yes to helping you, First Nations people!

And can I invite everyone here to share these kind of “why” messages all over the social - IG, TikTok, Facebook….Get brave, got loud, voice up…now!

4. Read and share the Uluru Statement from the Heart

Honestly, it gets to the unadulterated intention, promise and gentle invite of the Voice. Before all the ugly politicising. You can read it here. This line just grips:

We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

5. If you need to counter the lies

The Australian Electoral Commission has an online referendum process disinformation register. This is focused on disinformation about the referendum process rather than fact-checking claims made about the Voice.

Several media outlets including RMIT ABC Fact Check, AAP Fact Check and AFP Fact Check are publishing articles fact-checking claims about the Voice.

You might like to point any friends or family who have had wool pulled over eyes to the fact the No camp is coaching people to tell us lies. I think many Australians would be horrified to think they’re being bullshitted, right?

I also liked this counter to the idea from journalist Peter Hartcher that the Voice puts race into the constitution (which is just hilarious, because 1. It’s already in there and 2. It’s in there in reference to subjugating Indigenous Australians):

6. If you know someone who needs to hear it from a conservative Murdoch Press journalist…

Joe Hildebrand articulates the key points well in this recent op-od on News.com.au. He addresses one of the points that I think is playing at many flirting with voting No - The issue doesn’t affect the majority of Australians, so why should they care? Why are we focused on this when there’s a cost of living crisis etc?

Joe answers this lament in detail, but concludes:

“It means nothing to most of us but it means everything to some of us. And it would be a sorry and senseless shame if those of us for whom it didn’t matter crushed the dreams of those for whom it could mean the world.”

7. If you’re discussing the issue with a woman.

The WomenfortheVoice group (follow them on IG and TikTok) did this video and I think the way they explain it cuts through:

@womenforthevoiceIt wasn’t that long ago women needed to fight for a Voice.. thank you @thelaurendubois, let’s cut through the noise to the heart of the ask ahead of us. #womenforthevoice #thevoice #uluru #ulurustatement #ulurustatementfromtheheart #yes23 #yes23au #australia #cutthroughnoise

Tiktok failed to load.

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8. Write yes on your hand

It’s a simple gesture put forward by Yes23 where you write YES on your hand, snap a selfie and share it widely. People like us do things like this! We don’t just vote Yes, we tell the world we are.

Celeste Barber, Rove McManus, Jess Rowe, Courtney Act and I have done it. Details and everything you need are here.

9. If you’re wanting to stay on top of things as we approach October 14

• The Guardian In Focus and Newsroom Edition podcasts covers updates regularly.

• Cheekmedia has been doing a great job with sharing information and perspective and…countering the lies.

• Follow @thomasmayo and @ulurustatement on Instagram.

• Also check out my dear friend Dan Illic’s campaign F-Yes23. He is throwing everything at countering the No lies and doing amazing videos and memes that you can share.

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Friends, including the introverts, I invite all of you to go beyond just ticking your box Yes on October 14. Let everyone around you know that you are voting Yes, and share your why (no whats required). So much is at stake, including our sense of identity and worth as Australians.

Sarah xx

1. This is the official wording of the question being put to Australians.

2. Tellingly, this has prompted Black Dog to travel to Canberra to urge the misinformation and polarisation be managed to protect the mental health of First Nations people.

3. You can catch up on the interview I did with Seth on this here.