One thing that is clear in the aftermath of the Voice referendum, is that indigenous people have been used in the political game played by the elites. The prime minister asked No campaign leader Senator Price whether indigenous people in the Northern Territory voted for No. The senator did not know at the time, but we can answer now, that 60.5 percent of NT people voted No. There are some remote communities that voted Yes, but, in a democracy, small minorities doe not dictate results. And Senator Price had some harsh words about how voters in those remote communities may have been treated: “One thing that I do know is the way in which Indigenous people in remote communities are exploited for the purpose of somebody else’s agenda,” she said.
“I think going ahead we probably need to look at the way in which the AEC, the NTEC [Northern Territory Electoral Commission] conduct themselves when it comes to remote polling and elections at referendums.