Indigenous Voice to Parliament: It is time to unify a divided Australia

There are no second chances with this referendum result. This is a repudiation of what Noel Pearson said would be a "profound rejection" for Indigenous people.

Mirroring the loss of the republic referendum of 1999, bogged down with too many models for choosing an Australian president, this is a Pyrrhic victory for the "no" side. Peter Dutton will take this political win, as will conservatives in the Coalition, but this is no path to a cohesive, nation-leading moment.

This is a "no" victory that does nothing but stir up some very ugly sentiment and exhaust dispirited First Nations leaders who have carried the 20-year path to constitutional recognition.

The "no" attack line of division, in a doomed campaign without bipartisan support, became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Australia is more divided than ever and there is nothing to show for it. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a mandate to hold the referendum and was committed to delivering the specific request for Aboriginal leaders and elders.

The failure of the Voice to get up is squarely due to its politicisation.

Smashed at every available occasion, it has been impossible to have a civil debate of what the Voice could be.

This partisan kick around of the needs and wants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has stirred up some despicable and abusive behaviour.

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The political leaders will move on. They have to. There is a cost-of-living crisis and yet another war is opening up on the other side of the world, stirring up local sentiment and potentially threatening our shores.

Mr Albanese's big task now is to armour up again and unite Australia.

If the Prime Minister thought campaigning for "yes" was difficult, bringing stirred-up citizens, let-down Indigenous people, and his own dejected Labor colleagues out of the darkness will be the toughest test of his prime ministership.

The notion of unstoppable truth to power, enshrined in the constitution, should have been ice cream to the ever-growing numbers of Australian cynics and the distrustful. Those people who don't consume mainstream news and others that demanded and got a National Anti-Corruption Commission. But instead voters, even Labor voters, could not, for various reasons, back the Voice.

What was offered was based on repeated Indigenous experience with representative bodies given the flick, but many voters were more distrustful of what a Voice could be.

Divisive, not enough detail, race-based, cost too much, extra bureaucracy, too much power. Those arguments won the day despite stretching the truth and having answers that just did not get through in a "yes" campaign that kicked off too late and had far too many messages.

There was little interest in the ready details of the proposed design in the Calma-Langton report, and many more eyeballs on conspiracy-laden TikTok rants.

If there is one true winner of the campaign, it is the Trumpian use of fear and lies to scare and snag voters. Canberra's own Advance Australia will have the federal Coalition's ear going forward.

And it will be a while before there is any sort of appetite for another referendum. Eight from 45 is not a good run rate.

Some Indigenous leaders who have been behind this once-in-a-generation, now-failed proposal are expected to step back now. Others, more optimistically, say Indigenous disadvantage has been elevated as an issue and they are open to having that conversation and hope there is a way through.

It has been a tough conversation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It has been about them and about their value. They say it has been hard as they see people on both sides voting on feelings and slogans, rather than facts.

Could such a slogan of "If you don't know, vote no" be imagined for a general election? Fear and disinformation just proved a winner.

Australian voters have had their say and the Prime Minister insists the Voice result will be respected. But, with years of work now dust and the nation disturbingly stirred up, it is hard to see the Voice defeat as any time for celebration.