Indigenous communities overwhelmingly voted yes to Australia’s voice to parliament

Polling catchments where Indigenous Australians form more than 50% of the population voted on average 63% in favour of the voice

Regions with a high proportion of Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly voted yes in the referendum – including the community where prominent no campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s family is from.

The yes vote in polling catchments where Indigenous Australians formed more than 50% of the population was, on average, 63% in favour of enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament, according to political analyst Simon Jackman, who estimated the proportion of Indigenous Australians at each polling area based on data from the 2022 election.

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price questions AEC ‘conduct’ after largely Indigenous communities vote yes

Shadow Indigenous Australians minister says ‘there’s a lot of manipulation’ in remote communities

The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, has questioned the impartiality of the Australian Electoral Commission’s delivery of remote polling.

Price also suggested people handing out how-to-vote cards “overpower vulnerable Aboriginal communities”, seeking to counter the fact many Indigenous communities had voted yes to a voice to parliament.

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Australia could use military flights to evacuate people from Israel, deputy PM says

Richard Marles said defence flights had ‘greater flexibility’ and could be arranged, after civilian repatriation flights were cancelled

The Australian government is investigating using military aircraft to evacuate hundreds of its citizens wanting to leave Israel.

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said on Sunday there were around 10,000 Australians in Israel with the number of those who had registered for evacuation numbering in the “high hundreds”.

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How did your electorate vote in the voice referendum? Check out our interactive map

While electorate-level results play no part in the overall Indigenous voice referendum outcome, polling data reveals interesting demographic trends

The voice to parliament referendum has been defeated, with a majority of people and every state voting against the proposal.

While electorate-by-electorate results play no part in a referendum, the results can reveal interesting geographic trends. On Saturday, the eastern suburbs and inner west in Sydney recorded a majority yes vote, compared with a majority no vote in the western suburbs.

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David Pocock joins Greens in push to criminalise non-payment of super

Government’s closing loopholes bill yet to include superannuation theft, estimated to cost workers $5bn a year

The independent senator David Pocock has joined a push by the Greens and unions to criminalise the intentional non-payment of superannuation, after the measure was omitted from Labor’s industrial relations bill.

The Albanese government’s legislation has proposed to criminalise wage theft but not super theft, which is estimated to cost workers up to $5bn a year, and Pocock said if the government is “serious about closing loopholes then the intentional non-payment of super should also be criminalised”.

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Australia may increase standard car parking spaces as huge vehicles dominate the streets

Critics say boom in sales of SUVs and dual-cab utes has been disastrous for safety and the environment – and car parks may be at risk of collapse

Parking spaces in Australia may soon become bigger as a response to the nation’s love affair with SUVs and large cars, but planners fear parking lots are at risk of collapse under the weight of increasingly enormous vehicles.

For the past few decades, the standard size for car spaces on streets and in parking lots has been 5.4 metres long and 2.4 to 2.6 metres wide – big enough to allow a Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore to park comfortably.

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Indigenous voice to parliament: Australia rejects constitutional change as Albanese says vote ‘not end of the road’

Every state and territory except the ACT votes against voice, but Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney vows to ‘move forward’

Australian voters have resoundingly rejected a proposal to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the country’s constitution, with voters in every state and territory bar the ACT opposing the change.

The Australian Electoral Commission said 59% of the country voted no as of 10.30pm AEDT on Saturday. The state with the highest yes vote was Victoria, at 46%, while the Queensland had the lowest yes vote, at 32%.

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Indigenous Australians grapple with ‘gut-wrenching’ result but pledge to ‘keep fighting’

First Nations leaders who campaigned for the voice say the result is deeply disappointing and could set back reconciliation

First Nations people are digesting the no result after a bruising and often ugly campaign, with those who stood for and against the voice vowing to continue to fight on against the racism, injustice and inequities Indigenous people face.

Australia has overwhelmingly voted against enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution to advise policy and lawmakers on issues affecting First Nations people.

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From ‘gut-wrenching’ to ‘respect’: how prominent Australians reacted to the voice referendum result

Linda Burney calls on Australia to keep listening to First Nations people, while Warren Mundine says result is ‘not a celebration’

Prominent Australians and campaigners from each side have responded after voters rejected the Indigenous voice to parliament proposal.

The result was clear soon after polls closed in eastern states and on Saturday evening the nation began processing what the defeat meant and discussing a path forward for reconciliation.

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Australia cancels flights out of Israel amid fears of violence escalating in region

Cancellation comes as Australian government echoes US call for Israel to operate by the rules of war in its response to Hamas attacks

Two planned flights to evacuate Australians stranded in Israel have been cancelled amid growing fears of escalating violence in the region, although the Albanese government says it is working on alternatives to bring people to safety.

The cancellation of the two planned flights comes as Australia has echoed a call from the Biden administration for Israel to operate by the rules of war in its response to Hamas attacks, while pledging an additional $10m in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza.

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Australia rejects proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in constitution

Voice to parliament referendum fails in defeat that Indigenous advocates will see as a blow to progress towards reconciliation

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

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The voice referendum 2023 live updates: reaction and full results after no vote for Australian Indigenous voice to parliament – latest news

This blog is now closed

The prime minister is asked “what happens tomorrow?” after the vote. He says:

A yes vote means we wake up like we did after the apology to the Stolen Generations, as a stronger country with a burden lifted from all of us, having shown respect for the First Australians and the great privilege that we have to share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on Earth.

A simple request by the first Australians just to be heard, to have a voice, to be listened to about matters that affect them. A non-binding advisory committee. Nothing to fear here but everything to gain.

I sincerely hope that Australians, when they walk into that ballot box today, vote yes – vote yes to accept this gracious invitation as the Uluru Statement from the Heart so eloquently says in its one page to overcome the torment of powerlessness that has led to an eight-year life expectancy gap, to a greater chance of an Indigenous young male going to jail than university, to an Indigenous young woman twice as likely to die in childbirth as a non-Indigenous woman.

I tell you what division represents in this country – division is the division between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

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‘Don’t slam the door on the children’: Noel Pearson makes final pitch on voice referendum

Australia will find it almost impossible to tackle racism if the vote is no, yes campaign leader says

Saturday’s referendum vote will be the only chance Australia will have to tackle racism and guarantee a better future for Aboriginal children, leading yes campaigner Noel Pearson has said.

In his final pitch to undecided voters, Pearson said the voice was the culmination of decades of struggle by leaders before him, adding he did not want to pass that burden to the next generation.

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Australians to vote in historic voice referendum as yes campaign makes desperate final push

When will there be a result and what happens after? Is a voice to parliament doomed?

Australians go to the polls today in a historic referendum – the first in 24 years – that will determine if Indigenous people are recognised in the country’s constitution through a voice to parliament.

The vote is the most significant step in a decades-long push for constitutional recognition of Australia’s Indigenous people. It is the culmination of a six-year-long process since the Uluru statement from the heart was delivered to the Australian people, calling for a constitutionally enshrined voice, a committee of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to give advice on policies affecting First Nations Australians.

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‘Grossly irresponsible’: peak Islamic body condemns Peter Dutton’s comments on pro-Palestine rally

Australian National Imams Council said opposition leader’s comments were ‘designed to inflame tensions’

Australia’s peak body representing Muslims has labelled comments by Peter Dutton over pro-Palestine protests “dangerous, divisive, misleading and grossly irresponsible”.

The Australian National Imams Council spokesperson, Bilal Rauf, also rejected the opposition leader’s “broad, sweeping” call for the visas of antisemitic protesters to be cancelled.

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How to watch the Indigenous voice referendum results

Public broadcasters the ABC, SBS and NITV as well as Sky News will follow the count live, as commercial channels keep coverage to a minimum

Voters keen to know the result of the referendum on Saturday night will find blanket coverage on the public broadcasters, ABC, SBS and NITV, as well as on Sky News Australia, but the commercial networks are keeping their reporting to a minimum.

The SBS and NITV presenters, Anton Enus and Natalie Ahmat, a Mudburra and Wagadagam woman, will kick off the four-hour simulcast at 6.30pm with news and live crosses to reporters on the ground.

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Woodchipper victim’s greatest fear was woman accused of his murder would leave him, court told

Prosecutors allege Sharon Graham was ‘architect’ of plan to murder Bruce Saunders and get money from his insurance

Weeks before Bruce Saunders’ body was put in a woodchipper, the butcher spoke about taking out a life insurance policy and marrying the woman now accused of his murder, a jury has heard.

Saunders was hit on the head with an iron bar after sunset on 12 November 2017 and his body fed into an industrial woodchipper to make it look like an accident, a Brisbane court has been told.

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Australia news live: Minns says NSW police response to pro-Palestine rally will be ‘reasonable and proportionate’; voice referendum latest updates

Follow today’s news live, including the latest updates on the voice referendum

A strong no vote could hold back reforms in Indigenous affairs, Wyatt says

Ken Wyatt said he doesn’t think the government has made a mistake deciding against legislating the voice if the referendum is defeated, but he fears what a strong no vote will mean for the future of Indigenous affairs:

We’ve got to respect what Australians are saying if there is an overwhelming no majority …

The fear I have now is with a strong no, whether the government will become reticent to be adventurous on doing significant reforms in the future in the Aboriginal affairs portfolio, and on programs and policies that could reshape the landscape of Aboriginal affairs and the way in which Aboriginal people access the plethora of services that we all take for granted across this nation as our inherent right.

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High-profile man accused of Toowoomba rape loses court bid to maintain anonymity

But man’s identity will remain secret for now after lawyers in court immediately flagged they would lodge an appeal

A high-profile man accused of raping a woman in Toowoomba has lost a legal battle to maintain his anonymity but his identity will remain secret pending an appeal.

An interim order preventing his name from being published will remain in place until Tuesday despite magistrate Clare Kelly on Friday dismissing the arguments made by his lawyers when seeking a permanent non-publication order.

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Inquest into deaths of five trans and gender-diverse Victorians to investigate emotional support services

Suspected suicides of the five who were undergoing gender affirming processes to be examined starting next month

Emotional wellbeing support for transgender people will be investigated as part of a coronial inquiry into the suspected suicides of five people who were undergoing gender affirmation processes before their deaths.

The Victorian coroners will next month begin a four-day inquest into the deaths of five transgender and gender-diverse people between 2020 and 2021.

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