With just over two weeks until the voice referendum, both Yes and No campaigns are working to win over Australia's culturally diverse communities. Analysts say clinching the multicultural vote will be crucial, as just over half of Australians were either born overseas or have at least one migrant parent.
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00:00 The bustling melting pot of Sydney's western suburbs.
00:10 A place where some of Australia's newest citizens will be voting in a referendum concerning
00:15 the nation's oldest inhabitants.
00:19 What happens here could tip the result one way or the other.
00:23 But not everyone is aware of the issue at stake.
00:26 We're just from the ABC, we're asking people do you know about the voice referendum?
00:30 No.
00:31 Honestly I don't know anything about it.
00:32 I don't know.
00:33 I don't know.
00:34 At the moment I didn't hear anything.
00:37 There's quite a big talk about the yes campaign within our local mosques.
00:41 Oh yes of course, about the voice.
00:43 First Nations people having an opportunity to have a voice in Parliament.
00:46 With the clock ticking, the yes and no campaigns are working hard.
00:50 Firstly to explain to people what the referendum is actually about.
00:54 And then to convince them of their case.
00:57 The culturally diverse vote is absolutely crucial in the referendum.
01:00 It will determine the outcome in New South Wales, in Victoria and quite probably in Western
01:06 Australia and perhaps in South Australia.
01:11 With so many different communities and life experiences here in Western Sydney, it's difficult
01:15 to predict which way this culturally diverse area will vote.
01:19 For some, the very idea of a referendum is new and they're getting conflicting messages
01:25 from both sides of the debate.
01:29 Vietnamese community groups in Cabramatta are going door to door to talk about the voice.
01:35 They say many here have had little exposure to Indigenous people and limited knowledge
01:40 of Australia's colonial history.
01:42 Now we've been here 40 years and we don't have any chance to get the combination with
01:47 the First Nations, that's the reason why we've got a gap to understand what the nation lost
01:53 during the past.
01:56 It's true that many people in the diverse communities have no knowledge of Australian
02:00 history, may never have encountered an Indigenous person outside the multicultural communities.
02:05 That's also true.
02:06 The vast majority of non-Indigenous Australians who were born here may never have met an Indigenous
02:11 person and most of them, particularly the older ones, will have no knowledge of Indigenous
02:15 history whatsoever.
02:16 What the more newly arrived communities are experiencing is a more intense version of
02:22 what is a general sense of ignorance that pervades the wider Australian community.
02:29 In the commuter suburb of Kellyville, no campaigners say the feedback they're getting is that the
02:35 voice is not a high priority.
02:38 Everyone is worried about the mortgage stress, they're worried about the cost of living stress.
02:42 Even today they're saying there are a lot of things to do better than the referendum.
02:51 In the heart of Lakemba, evening prayers for the Bangladeshi community provide an opportunity
02:56 to share information.
02:57 And these are the lines that will be added to the constitution.
03:01 It's so important to have these conversations within our communities, within trusted sources
03:06 and really get to the heart of why this is so important.
03:10 Sharing the information, I think that's what we need to do.
03:12 We need to explain to them the history of the Aboriginal people, the similarities that
03:16 we've gone through under colonisation as well.
03:20 Wiradjuri man Jack Gibson has lived in Western Sydney for over three decades.
03:26 He's been campaigning to help people from all backgrounds understand what the voice
03:30 means.
03:31 To me the question is fairly clear.
03:34 We're going to vote for a voice that will speak for Aboriginal people.
03:39 That's pretty clear.
03:40 I think people are confused because there's a message being sent that if you don't know,
03:47 vote no.
03:48 If you don't know, find out.
03:53 Views in Western Sydney on the voice are as diverse as the population.
03:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]