When Australians go to the polls to vote for or against Indigenous Voice on October 14, many will be casting their vote in a referendum for the first time.
But for Doug Peterson, 99, Saturday will be his 27th referendum. During his lifetime, only six have been successful and all had bipartisan support, unlike the Voice.
From his residential aged care facility in Upper Mount Gravatt, in the anti-Voice heartland of Queensland, Peterson is doing everything he can to get a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal advisory board across the line.
The elderly Yes campaigner was scathing of opposition to the Voice in an interview with Daily Mail Australia, describing the No campaign’s tactics as “disgraceful”.
“I’m racing on a motorized scooter that says Yes,” he said. “I can’t walk, so I do what I can from my chair.”
For 99-year-old Doug Peterson, Saturday will be the 27th time he has voted in a referendum.
There are about 100 residents living in Mr. Peterson’s facility, and he doesn’t waste a single opportunity to chat about Voice.
‘Everyone knows me… some of them here don’t want to discuss it with me at all, they just say “I’m going to vote No” and that’s it. That is hard.’
Peterson said his biggest frustration during the campaign is that so many people who intend to vote No do so for the “wrong reasons.”
“They say they vote No because they belong to a political party, or they use indirect information that is simply not true,” he said.
‘I couldn’t believe it (when they told me). This is not politics. These are human beings; their lives.
“It amazes me, after all these years, that this business of counting shockingly incorrect furphys exists.”
Most damaging, he has discovered, is the unshakeable fear that the Voice will open a way for “people to come and claim my house.”
“Nonsense,” said Mr. Peterson. ‘Furphys’.
“Advertise the product, announce the truth, and then let people make their own decisions.”
From his residential aged care facility in Upper Mount Gravatt, in the anti-Voice heart of Queensland, Peterson is doing everything he can to get through this.
Peterson said his biggest frustration during the campaign is that so many people who intend to vote No do so for the “wrong reasons.”
From now until next weekend, Peterson will spend as much time as he can trying to raise awareness about The Voice.
It’s an uphill battle in Queensland, largely considered the hardest state to influence and the most anti-Voice in early polls.
But Peterson says after a lifetime of watching First Nations people treated with “contempt… as second-class citizens,” he feels compelled to try.
‘I will hand out leaflets and deliver them to people’s mailboxes. Whoever wants to talk to me, I’ll start it. I also have the chair with the Yes banners,” she said.
He first became attracted to Indigenous Affairs when he was an enthusiastic young teacher.
She applied for a permit to teach in a remote indigenous community and has never been able to forget the sadness and despair within the community.
“It was like a prison,” he said.
From now until October 14, Peterson will spend as much time as he can trying to raise awareness about the Voice.
‘I could not believe it. They told me not to take photos, not to talk to anyone. The Aborigines themselves had no voice. They weren’t allowed to do anything.’
Peterson acknowledges that his campaign efforts have certainly upset some people. He doesn’t care either.
He says the Voice is too important a proposition to sit back and be a wallflower.
Even with his own family, Peterson doesn’t miss an opportunity to discuss the referendum.
When his five children and 16 grandchildren come to visit him, he reminds them of all the reasons he will vote Yes.
‘We’re having those conversations and they know where I stand. They have their own ideas and they will make their own decisions, but I say yes.’
Australians will go to the polls on October 14 for the first referendum in 24 years.
And he’s hopeful his work is paying off, as a small part of the network of 37,000 volunteers Yes23 has recruited throughout the campaign.
Despite poor polling results (the Essential poll has Voice support at 43 percent, while Newspoll says it’s closer to 36 percent), Peterson says the campaign is doing well on the ground.
“I’ve seen a huge improvement in the number of people voting Yes,” he said.
“It’s taken a while to develop.”
When asked if the campaign had been managed well from a political standpoint, Peterson had a one-word answer: “no.”
But, he says, the campaign itself has bounced back and performed “outstanding” in the face of adversity.
“The people, the people have done an exceptional job.”
The Prime Minister has been traveling around Australia trying to promote the Yes vote