Despite leading the nation in support for the Voice, many Canberrans don't know enough to cast their vote - or even that there's a referendum coming.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Canberra Times visited the suburbs of Amaroo and Gungahlin shopping centres to see how residents were going to vote in the upcoming referendum.
A recent ACM survey found that 52 per cent of Canberra residents said they would vote "yes", as opposed to 42 who were intending to vote "no". Six per cent remained undecided.
These findings largely mirrored those of the people surveyed in Canberra's north.
However, it was clear that for the Voice to succeed, a bigger effort will be needed to make voters aware of its benefits - and the fact it is even happening.
Despite the majority saying they would vote "yes", many of those surveyed said they hadn't actually looked into how they would vote.
Some residents were unaware of the process behind a referendum, whilst others said they simply hadn't heard about it.
Nicole Mascord said she would be voting "yes", but had been largely "unaware of the process and what it was about."
For Ben Trustum, he said that discourse around the process had made decision making difficult.
"I haven't really looked into it," he said. "But the biased opinions from everyone in the media doesn't really help."
Peter and Kerry from Belconnen held differing views on the Voice. Whilst Kerry said she was leaning towards voting "yes", Peter said a lack of clarity around the costing concerned him.
"To be honest, I really want to know what all this will cost," he said.
Paddy and Grace Alleyn said they would be voting "yes".
"I don't know how much difference it will make to First Nations people's lives," Grace said. "But it's a start and better than nothing."
For Kirsty Keller, whilst she sits on the fence at the moment, she isn't sure about changing things as much as the referendum is proposing.
"At the end of the day, I just think we should all be equal."
But there was little doubt which way Ash Tarrant was voting.
"Of course I will be voting 'yes'," they said. "100 per cent. We are living on their land."
Many of those who weren't aware of what the referendum entailed, said they would likely vote "yes" after it was explained.
READ MORE:
This response also is represented in the recent ACM survey, where 72 per cent of the more than 10,000 respondents felt the government hadn't done enough to explain the Voice to the community.
Conducted to understand regional sentiment around the Voice, the results follow a similar trajectory for Voice support seen in other published national polling recently. The ACM survey found a critical lack of support emerging in June, as the legislation triggering the referendum and settling the final wording for the vote passed the Parliament.
