The imminent official release of the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ case pamphlets on the Voice to Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples comes as over 64 per cent of the near 5,000 Mallee residents surveyed saying they intend to vote No at the referendum, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster says.

In that survey just 23 per cent indicated they would vote Yes while 13 per cent were unsure.

Prime Minister Albanese has indicated this week that he will not announce the referendum date until September, but the arguments for and against the referendum are already in full swing.

“The people of Mallee care about Closing the Gap for Indigenous health, education and life outcomes, but they’re simply not convinced that the Voice will fix any of those issues,” Dr Webster said.

The Productivity Commission’s last report on direct expenditure on Indigenous peoples showed that in 2015/16, $44,886 per person was spent on Indigenous Australians compared with $22,356 for all other Australians.

Dr Webster added: “Faith Bandler – who embodied the spirit of the campaign in the 1960s to vote Yes for Indigenous Australians’ inclusion in the census – famously crystallised what was at stake, saying that “the original Australians” no longer wanted to be “a race apart in the land of their birth”: they wanted to be “treated equally with other Australians”.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people total 3.8 per cent of the Australia population.  Almost 5 per cent of federal MPs are Indigenous, yet the Voice would establish an estimated further 24 Indigenous representatives to speak to government about policy concerns.

“The diverse groups of Indigenous people are concerned about who would be picked to be their Voice, given there are hundreds of estimated people groups. Will the Voice representatives speak for all Indigenous people groups, or just the most powerful, influential or metropolitan-based chosen few?

Native title owners already hold 17 per cent of Australian land, with over 50 per cent of our land subject to a native title claim.  Some estimate with the Voice this could rise to 70 per cent. The No campaign has already raised concerns about what the Voice might direct for Australia’s national flag and Australia Day.

“The proposed voice is by far the most radical change we’ve considered to the Constitution since World War II. It is a step towards co-government and co-sovereignty,” Dr Webster said, “That’s the ambition of at least some of the ATSI leadership class. We are constantly told that sovereignty was never ceded, but sovereignty has been decided by the High Court already based on the existing Constitution.

“We need to rekindle the spirit of political equality that Bandler so powerfully evoked years ago. This is what most Australians believe. It is consistent with Australian values. We owe it to the Australians of the future, of all colours and creeds. As the song made famous by the Seekers says:

‘We are one

But we are many

And from all the lands on earth we come

We’ll share a dream

And sing with one voice

I am, you are, we are Australian’