EARLY voting centres have opened in Midland and Kalamunda allowing early-birds to cast their vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The voting centres are located on Haynes Street in Kalamunda and Great Eastern Highway in Midland, with others open at Great Eastern Highway in Mundaring and Sunray Circle in Ellenbrook.
Campaigners from Yes23 and Fair Australia were handing out pamphlets to voters, with Hasluck MHR Tania Lawrence campaigning for Yes at the Midland early voting centre.
She said she was hopeful the hard work the Yes volunteers had been doing in Hasluck would see the Yes vote succeed come referendum day.
“From the door-knocking we’ve been doing and the phone-banking, on the main it’s been positive,” she said.
Ms Lawrence said that it was nice to interact with undecided voters at the polling booth and that undecided voters were keen to understand what the Voice would achieve.
“I’m 100 per cent backing a Yes outcome because it’s what this country needs to move forward. A No gets us nowhere,” she said.
Former Australia First Party candidate Lyn Vickery voted early and voted No, and said that he believed the Voice would do little for Indigenous Australians in regional areas.
He said the Voice would only cause division and be difficult to reverse were it to be unsuccessful.
“It will divide the Australian people, once and for all,” he said.
In Kalamunda, Yes23 volunteer Nancy Reed said a lot of early voters had already made up their mind, so many didn’t take the campaign fliers but was happy to see so many early voters come out and cast their ballot.
“That’s good, because in their mind they know what they’re doing, and others I think just take them out of politeness, because I think most people, before they turn up have decided,” she said.
She had already cast her vote for Yes, but was still unsure what the result would be come October 14.
“I honestly have no idea. I hope that it’s Yes, if it’s No, I really don’t know where we got from there.
“I think to make all Australians equal, or to at least try to make them equal, this has to be Yes,” she said.
Back in Midland, Dorothy Mulder and daughter Ingrid were voting No.
“I don’t want any change to the constitution, it’s the safest thing we’ve got.
“We’re voting No because we find it divisive,” they said.
For the Voice to be successful it needs a double majority: A majority of Australia’s six states must vote Yes and a majority of voters must support the change.
Postal vote applications close Wednesday, October 11. Referendum day is October 14.
