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'Don't close the door': PM's plea as Voice vote date revealed
Australians will go to the polls to vote Yes or No to the Indigenous Voice to parliament on October 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed the date of the long-mooted referendum in Adelaide this morning at the Yes campaign launch.
"The idea for a Voice came from the people, and it will be decided by the people," Albanese said.
READ MORE: How to make sure your Voice vote gets counted
The question for the referendum will be:
"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?"
Albanese gave an at-times impassioned speech to a cheering crowd, calling on them to move Australia's 65,000-year-old story forward.
"In a spirit of generosity and optimism, vote Yes. In recognition of 65,000 years of history, vote Yes. With hope for a better future, vote Yes," he said.
On October 14, he said, Australia had nothing to lose and "so much to gain".
But, he said, if approved by Australians, the Voice was just the start of the journey.
"The Voice will be a committee of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, local representatives from every state and territory, the regions, remote communities, as well as the Torres Strait Islands," Albanese said.
"A committee of Indigenous Australians chosen by Indigenous Australians, giving advice to government so that we can get a better result for Indigenous Australians."
READ MORE: PM, radio host clash over Voice on-air
He said it would face challenges "built up over generations".
"But voting Yes means we'll finally have the right approach in place so we can start finding the solutions," he said.
"We can make this change together.
"And with a Voice that's independent from day-to-day politics, so it can plan for the long term."
Albanese again reinforced the message that the Voice would not have any legislative or governing power.
"With a Voice, though, we will be able to hear directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about the challenges they face in health and education, in jobs and housing," he said.
"And we'll be able to learn about the things that are working in local areas, so we can replicate them and make them work right around the country."
Albanese urged Australians unsure about how they wished to vote to ask questions and listen to answers about issues that puzzled them.
He warned that a No vote was a vote for nothing to change.
"I say today, don't close the door on constitutional recognition, don't close the door on listening to communities to get better results," he said.
"Don't close the door on an idea that came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves, and don't close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians. Vote Yes."
No campaigners urge against 'biggest change to our Constitution'
Speaking in Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton once again accused Albanese of refusing to release detail about the Voice before the referendum.
"There is no detail out there," Dutton said when asked why he wasn't encouraging people to educate themselves on the Voice.
"This is the biggest change to our Constitution in our country's history. It is broad sweeping by design.
"As the advocates have pointed out, it would be a very game government that did not take the advice from the Voice…
"The prime minister is deliberately keeping the design and the detail from the Australian public until after the vote."
There is a federal government website outlining the design principles of the Voice and the government sought legal advice from the solicitor-general about the advisory body, which stated the proposed model was legally sound.
Dutton's comments came after fellow No campaigners Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine rallied against the constitutional amendment.
"It is wrong to suggest we have not had a voice," Price said.
"Voices like mine, elected parliamentarians, like my good friend Warren Mundine speaking up. We are telling this prime minister our voices are relevant."
Mundine, meanwhile, accused Albanese of "attacking" and "abusing" No campaigners, although didn't provide any examples.
The No campaign will hold its official launch in the coming weeks.
What are Australians voting on?
A first-term referendum on constitutional recognition of Indigenous people and an advisory Voice to parliament was a core promise of Albanese's 2022 election campaign.
Enshrining the Voice in the Constitution means it will not be able to be dismissed by a new government, except through another referendum.
The Australian Electoral Commission is in the process of delivering 13 million booklets to households around Australia outlining the official Yes and No campaign positions.
READ MORE: Qantas takes to sky to support Voice
The case put forward by the Yes team places heavy emphasis on the origins of the Voice in the Uluru Statement from the Heart as something put forward by Indigenous leaders rather than any parliament or political party.
"Vote yes to an idea that comes directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves: Constitutional Recognition through a Voice," the document reads.
It said a yes vote was about "recognition", "listening" and "better results".
The No campaign has emphasised the unknowns about the Voice, including its composition and areas of oversight.
Contrary to the Yes camp, the No campaign claims the Voice will prompt waves of legal action and that the body will have a mandate to oversee areas of government such as Defence.
In his speech, Albanese said arguments had been made against Australia's Federation, the minimum wage, Medicare, multiculturalism, and universal suffrage as well.
"But the great story of our country, through the generations, is that Australians come together to answer these calls for change, we rise to the moment," he said.
"Like the kangaroo and the emu on our coat of arms, they never go backwards, they just go forwards."
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One dead in Waikato crash at Netherton, Hauraki
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Man's body found after central Sydney fire
A man has been found dead in an apartment complex that caught fire this morning in Sydney.
The man, aged in his 60s, is believed to be one of the residents of the third-floor apartment but he has not been formally identified.
An autopsy will confirm his identity later this week.
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A crime scene has been established as investigators look into the cause of the blaze.
Fifteen residents were evacuated from the building and will be displaced for some time until the building is safe to enter.
The Red Cross Foundation are working to locate alternative accommodation.
The fire broke out on the third floor of the apartment complex, causing part of the building and roof to collapse, according to Fire and Rescue New South Wales.
"We don't know [if everyone got out], we just hope no one is in there [because] they are all our neighbours we know them," one local said.
As many as 30 firefighters attended the scene of the blaze on Abercrombie Street in Darlington.
Fire crews were unable to get inside the building to fight the blaze, as fire had damage and blocked off entry to the apartment.
The blaze has since been contained.
"We haven't been able to conduct a complete search so we can't say we've got an all-clear at the moment," Fire and Rescue NSW told 9News.
Roads near Redfern station remain closed including Abercrombie Street, Ivy Street, Lawson Street and Gibbons Street.
The fire did not impact any train lines or rail operations at nearby Redfern Station.
Telstra receives odd texts of cows, diggers on scam reporting line
A scam text reporting line set up by Telstra has received thousands of incorrect reports of scams, prompting the telco to explain to users what to send through.
A matching pair of yellow tractors, surveillance photos of cows in a paddock and countless food deliveries on doorsteps were among the incorrect reports to the national "Snitch on Scammers" cyber security line.
Telstra has received around 50,000 texts since the line was set up in May but many of them weren't genuine scams.
READ MORE: Adelaide records its warmest winter day since 2009
Telstra's cyber security expert Darren Pauli said most scams only last a few minutes or hours.
"So don't delay in reporting them," Pauli said.
SMS remains the most common way a scam will reach Aussies and the text line does help experts identify and block scams from reaching people when used effectively.
Telstra is asking people to forward messages and not to send screenshots, otherwise it's not traceable and to only report messages that are suspected scams.