The city-country divide was stark, but zeroing in on booth level paints a more complex picture

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Australian voters in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum were starkly divided, with people in rural areas rejecting the proposal while those in inner cities backing the advisory body.

But digging deeper into the voting booths themselves exposes other patterns.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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• Albanese wanted to end two centuries of silence, but we said no – and failed our First Nations people | Katharine Murphy

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.