Celeste Barber has announced her support for the Yes campaign, advocating for a Voice to Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — drawing a mixed response from her fans.
“I’ll be voting YES for a Voice to Parliament in the upcoming referendum,” Barber wrote on Instagram.
“The Voice will give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a say on the issues that affect their communities.”
Soon after, Barber disabled the comments section on her post due to a mix of positive and negative responses.
“More than 80 per cent of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people support the Voice to Parliament,” she said.
“The idea came directly from Indigenous communities, not politicians. The current approach is not working.”
Some critics brought up the controversy surrounding her fundraising efforts during the 2020 Black Summer bushfire season, where she raised $51 million, but legal complications limited the funds’ use to the Rural Fire Service.
She joins a host of Australian celebrities including Cathy Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Brooke Boney, Adam Goodes, Johnathan Thurston, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, and Ash Barty who are supporting the Yes campaign.
However, despite the celebrity support, the outlook for supporters of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament looks increasingly bleak ahead of the October referendum, with the latest polls estimating the No campaign is now leading in every state.
Support for the Voice had already been waning in a worrying sign for Yes campaigners, with support for the referendum dropping 21 percentage points nationally in the past year, according to Guardian Australia’s poll tracker.
That is largely similar to declines across most states – especially South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Victoria had the smallest decline (18 points), while support in Western Australia dropped the most, by a massive 25 points.
Adding to the woes of the Yes campaigners, The Guardian’s models also show that people are increasingly sure of how they will vote – with the estimated proportion of undecided halving this year.
The Guardian collected and compared results from 48 polls and 10 different pollsters to create estimates for each state. The ACT, Northern Territory, and Tasmania have not been counted toward these estimates.
Although there is some variation between polls – including, for instance, their sample size, questions asked, weighting and difference in reporting – which can affect estimates, the modelling does not bode well for the Yes campaign as Australia nears polling day.