A cacophony of voices

Misinformation and disinformation have come to curse the debate around all national issues in recent times, and the Voice Referendum is no exception.

Plain speaking for the public service

The ways public servant policy advisers articulate arguments, communicate ideas and influence decision-makers are in urgent need of reform.

Yes can’t spend its way to success

The Voice referendum has been fought out on social media as much as traditional channels, but despite outspending the No campaign 10 or 20 to 1, the Yes campaign’s advertising blitz has failed to arrest its steady decline in support to less than 40% of Australian voters.

A lot of hot air?

Summit season is in full swing, with a host of global issues discussed at the East Asia, BRICS and G20 leaders’ gatherings over the last month and APEC summit scheduled for November in San Francisco.

The referendum game

Referendums are rare and tend to fail in Australia, and the beleaguered Voice campaign lacks at least three of the characteristics which have propelled others to success over the years.

The Yes campaign goes down in flames

A barnstorming speech by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the leading Indigenous woman of the “no” campaign, at the National Press Club capped another disastrous week for the Yes campaign, which now seems unlikely to carry a single state in October’s referendum.

The magnificent seven

As support for the Voice to Parliament continues to plummet in the run-up to October’s referendum, the intensity of the campaign on both sides is bound to increase, so here are seven guidelines to bear in mind to ensure a healthy and positive debate on both sides of this divisive issue.

Two sides to the ‘no’ campaign

While the “yes” campaign has largely coalesced behind a single message, the “no” campaign is not a singular cohort. There are two sides to the “no” camp and they are very different.

Why Scott hangs on

Dethroned Australian Prime Ministers have tended to beat a hasty retreat from Parliament in recent decades, but Scott Morrison, like Tony Abbot before him, seems determined to keep a toehold on power.

The arguments for yes and no

Australians will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” to a constitutional amendment establishing a Voice to Parliament in October, so what are the arguments for and against the idea?

Who has the loudest voice on social media?

Support for the Voice to Parliament has fallen steadily over the past 12 months, despite a well funded media campaign and sympathetic coverage on the ABC and other media outlets, leaving its advocates with a hill to climb before the referendum in October.

Will the vote for the Voice unite or divide us?

The stakes in October’s referendum are high for politicians on both sides of the fence, not least Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton, and the country as a whole.