Indigenous voters may be less than 4.0% of the population but researchers say their potential influence in marginal seats should not be discounted. James Vyver visited one of those ultra-tight contests in the seat of Gilmore to hear from First Nations voters.
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00:00A patch of bush deep in Ewan country and in the hyper-marginal electorate of Gilmore.
00:09I don't trust Dutton because he never comes across as genuine to me.
00:14It's managed by indigenous rangers with funding from the Albanese government.
00:18A coalition promise to audit indigenous spending is worrying local land council CEO Ros Carridge.
00:25I'm not always sure that the LNP are going to continue that funding.
00:29Labour holds Gilmore by just 373 votes but has thousands of First Nations voters.
00:36Previous research that we've done has looked at the sleeping electoral power of indigenous voters.
00:40Up to 15 seats around Australia make up a greater proportion than the swinging margin in those electorates.
00:48All states and territories except the ACT are estimated to have an electorate where there's a mathematical advantage, if not yet a political one.
00:56It's an opportunity for indigenous communities, it's not an opportunity, a political opportunity for the major parties.
01:01At this election one Garbin man, Trent Thompson, has his full household to think of.
01:06Cost of living? Absolutely. It is crippling.
01:09But he says it's on values, not hip pockets, that he plans to vote Liberal.
01:13Peter Dutton. I trust him much, much more. I'm disgusted into what this country's become and the politics that are running it.
01:21Trent and Ros may have different politics but they can agree on some grounds.
01:26Do you feel listened to? On indigenous matters? God no.
01:30They say politicians need to listen and act on indigenous affairs.
01:35We want to see action, we want to make them accountable. We need to see it with our own eyes, not just hear it.
01:42More than a numbers game, for now.