A former Nationals MP has delivered a warning to the conservative side of politics, saying if they continue to campaign negatively against the voice they risk alienating a large section of voters.
Calare MP Andrew Gee, from western NSW, quit the Nationals because of their stance on the upcoming referendum on the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Speaking on a panel at Garma, the Yolngu cultural festival held in northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Mr Gee said if the referendum failed the coalition would lose a large swathe of voters and risk losing more seats to so-called teal independents.
“A lot of the entrenched opposition is misguided politics,” he said on Sunday.
“If the conservative side of politics thinks that opposing the voice in the way that they are - for example labelling the voice Orwellian - if people think that is the way to political salvation, they’ve got rocks in their head.
“It’s the road to political ruin.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the referendum, due to be held in the final quarter of this year, was a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
"I say to those people - including people who say, 'it doesn't go far enough so therefore I'm going to vote no' - don't think that other issues can be advanced by a 'no' vote," he told the ABC's Insiders program.
"A 'no' vote will be a vote for more of the same.
"What Australians will have in coming months is the opportunity to write the next chapter ... that's more inclusive, that celebrates the connection that we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, but also makes practical change to close those gaps."
But a new poll shows a majority of Australian voters in every state and territory intend to vote against enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution.
The 'no' vote is running ahead of 'yes' at 56 per cent to 44 per cent nationally, the RedBridge poll conducted for News Corp publications found.
RedBridge contacted more than a thousand voters and asked them if they would vote yes or no, if they were undecided or if they wanted to opt out of the survey.
On a jurisdiction basis the no vote was ahead in NSW at 56 per cent against 44 per cent for yes, 55 per cent against 45 per cent in Victoria, 63 per cent against 37 per cent in Queensland, and 54 per cent against 46 per cent in other states and territories, the poll published on Sunday found.
The only income group where the yes vote was ahead of no was households earning more than $200,000 a year, with 51 per cent supporting the voice.
Younger voters were more in favour of the voice, with 63 per cent of those aged 18-34 intending to vote yes, compared to 75 per cent of those aged over 65 intending to vote no.
Lingiari Labor MP Marion Scrymgour told Garma attendees on Sunday that while it was easy to be spooked by polls she wasn’t overly concerned.
Ms Scrymgour said that in her travels around her electorate, which includes Alice Springs, the people she speaks with are in favour of a voice.
“We just need to stay on course because that will be the circle that unites Australia,” she said.
Voters will be asked: "A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice."
"Do you approve this proposed alteration?"
