As polls flag a likely defeat for the referendum across Australia, one of the original architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Noel Pearson, told an education conference in Sydney that voting Yes would be \u201cmorally right\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Yes campaigner Noel Pearson characterised the referendum as a moral choice.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Steven Siewert<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cOne answer is morally right and the other wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cOne brings us pride and the other shame. One brings us honour and the other dishonour.\u201d<\/p>\n Pearson\u2019s eleventh-hour characterisation of the referendum as a moral choice comes as the referendum enters its final week and campaigners from both sides crisscross the country in an attempt to sway remaining undecided voters.<\/p>\n Albanese will on Tuesday meet with the Central Land Council before greeting ultra-marathon runner Pat Farmer at the rock on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n This will be his first visit to the Northern Territory since enrolment for the referendum closed on September 18, after he spent time campaigning in every state except Western Australia, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.<\/p>\n In the red heart of Australia at Uluru, the divisions that have wracked the country over the course of the campaign were not difficult to uncover.<\/p>\n Keith and Christine Blair, from Brisbane, have both voted No in the referendum. At Uluru on Monday the couple said they can\u2019t see how a Voice will address Indigenous disadvantage.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>James Massola<\/cite><\/p>\n Keith and Christine Blair from Brisbane, who had already both voted No, said they had been unconvinced by the appeal from the Yes campaign to back the Voice.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the Constitution is about is to bring people together and what the referendum is doing, it is dividing the people,\u201d said Christine Blair, who was born in France but moved to Australia 25 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish that the money which has been put in this referendum would have been used instead to address the issues with the Aboriginal [people],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was blown away by the state of Alice Springs. For me, coming from France, I felt like I was in the ghettos in Paris … I don\u2019t think the referendum is going to address that.\u201d<\/p>\n Tony and Amanda Palmer, visiting Uluru on Monday from Adelaide, have both voted Yes in the referendum.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>James Massola<\/cite><\/p>\n Amanda and Tony Palmer, from Adelaide, said they both wished the Yes campaign had provided more detail to explain the Voice proposal \u2013 but they had both already voted Yes anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they could have been a bit more, I suppose, upfront with some of the detail because they must have known they were going to get asked those questions,\u201d Tony said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just feel that we need to. We need to recognise them and we need to get on with it. We need to move forward. If it turns out to be a No, I think it\u2019s going to be a bit of a setback.\u201d<\/p>\n Amanda added that Indigenous history \u201cis our history\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe may not be able to correct what has happened, just like across any continent, in America, Europe, but we can now move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, while visiting Tasmania, accused Albanese of not being across the detail of the Voice and \u201cdesperately trying to be all things to all people, but in the end he\u2019s presided over a process which has divided our country\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c[The referendum has] cost $400 million \u2013 that could be about 800 homes that you could build in Indigenous communities \u2013 and it\u2019s obvious that in increasing numbers Australians are going to vote No on Saturday, and I would encourage them to do exactly that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Farmer, a former Liberal MP and supporter of the reform, began his run for the Voice in Tasmania in April, linking up along the way with AFL legend Michael Long and Olympic gold medallist and former Labor senator Nova Peris.<\/p>\n It was at Uluru in May 2017 that a three-day Indigenous constitutional convention was held, after 12 Indigenous dialogues around the country, and it was here that the momentous and potentially fateful decision was taken by Indigenous leaders to reject purely symbolic recognition of First Nations in the Constitution.<\/p>\n Instead, after days of discussion and debate, the bold decision was taken by Indigenous leaders gathered in Uluru from around the country to pursue a Voice, followed by a Makarrata Commission that would oversee truth telling and treaty.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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