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Australians as a whole might have swiftly rejected the idea of a Voice to Parliament yesterday, but a picture of particularly strong pockets of both support and opposition is starting to emerge across Western Australia.
Counting of millions of votes across the state is continuing and will for some time but trends are beginning to emerge.
Looking just at polling places where 100 or more formal votes have been counted as of around midday Sunday local time, there were 97 locations where at least 80 per cent of voters opposed the Voice.
Those leading pockets of opposition were in:
- Moonyoonooka, on the fringes of Geraldton
- Newdegate, a largely farming community in the Great Southern
- Calingiri about an hour-and-a-half north-east of Perth
- Mukinbudin in the Wheatbelt
- Cervantes, a coastal town two hours north of Perth.
By contrast there were just five polling places which showed the same level of support for the proposal – all but one of them mobile polling teams which went into remote communities in the massive seat of Durack, which stretches from WA's very northern tip down to Northam, north of Perth.
Strong support in Kimberley
Other strongest supporters of the Voice included voters who cast ballots early in Fitzroy Crossing (80 per cent Yes) and voters in Leonora (79 per cent Yes).
Many polling places in the Kimberley supported the referendum, including in Broome, Wyndham and Halls Creek, while residents in Kununurra and Derby voted more in line with the national result.
Around 40 per cent of the population in the Kimberley are Indigenous, with the region grappling with significant justice, health and housing issues across multiple communities.
But further south in the Pilbara, where many of those same issues are in play, the result fell in line with the national and statewide trend, with the indigenous community of Roebourne (68 per cent) the only major town to record a Yes majority.
The issues the Yes campaign had in the state's agricultural heartland following the Cook Government's bungled reforms to WA's Aboriginal Cultural Heritage were readily apparent, with most of the Midwest and Wheatbelt lining up solidly behind No.
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In the city, Curtin remains too close to call for either the Yes or No camp, with just a handful of votes deciding the final result.
Support was strongest in Shenton Park, Nedlands, West Leederville and Subiaco while pre-polling centres and voters in Dalkeith recorded the lowest yes votes in the seat.
In the seat of Fremantle, which some had been expecting to vote Yes, booths closer to the heart of Fremantle were more in favour of the proposed change, while booths further out in suburbs like Beeliar, Coogee, Atwell and South Lake were less convinced.
Kununurra rejects Voice
The East Kimberley town of Kununurra is a hub for many Indigenous people, including those who live in communities over the border in the Northern Territory.
While a majority of people in the town voted No, across the wider region the Yes vote performed strongly.
Johnny Lurda from the NT community of Kildurk spoke to the ABC in Kununurra's White Gum Park on Sunday about his disappointment in the result.
"We've been working with white people. We've been under them. It's about time we made our own decisions, not European mob, you know," he said.
Kununurra resident Judith said while it was a "sad day" her focus was now turning to what comes next.
"We'll work for those people who'll talk for us, and I was hoping this would be a step closer but it's a step back," she said.
In Wyndham, where 60 per cent of voters backed Yes, Ngarinyin woman Jean O'Reeri said the grassroots activism needed to continue.
"We're not going to just sit still because no got up – we're going to continue on together and fight," she said.
Torres Strait Island woman Shenane Hogg was among Indigenous leaders who gathered in Belmont in Perth last night.
She described the result as a "kick in the guts".
"But … we're really adaptable people. We're so used to the goalposts being moved on us every time we get something right," she said.
"We have to regroup again, and that's what we'll do — we'll regroup, we'll reassess and then move forward."
Result about 'unity', says Hastie
One of WA's leading no campaigners, federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, said last night was a “great result for Australian democracy”.
“We were up against the combined weight of big business, big finance, big tech and big sport and working Australians voted, and they voted resoundingly for no,” he said.
“This was all about unity. A lot of people on the way in yesterday at polling booths, they wanted to see a unified country.
“So they voted no to division and that’s what this voice was, it would have divided us as a country by race and ancestry.”
Mr Hastie said it was now up to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to unify the country but said the Liberals’ focus over the next week would be around cost of living.
Vote an 'overwhelming rejection'
State Liberal leader Libby Mettam, who had initially supported the Voice before changing her mind, said the result was not a rejection of reconciliation.
"It was an overwhelming rejection of the proposal put forward by Anthony Albanese," she said.
"It was certainly not a rejection of efforts to close the gap in Western Australia or in Australia.
"We must continue as a united front to address the issues and ensure that we can close the gap in this state and in this country."
Ms Mettam said the need for governments to better listen to First Nations voices about both issues and solutions was clear.
"My commitment is to listen to the community and in particular those communities that are grassroots level and ensure that we do deliver meaningful outcomes on the ground for our most vulnerable communities," she said.
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