A vote against a First Nations Voice to Parliament would set Indigenous Australians back tens of thousands of years, Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan has warned amid a final appeal to undecided voters on referendum eve.
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On Friday, Canberra MPs and "yes" campaigners were putting forward their final pitches on Parliament House lawns ahead of the referendum on Saturday.
Despite polling showing low support for the Voice, Ms Sheridan hoped undecided voters "will come our way".
But she worried about what a "no" outcome would mean for Indigenous Australians and urged voters to not be "threatened" by the proposal.
![Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan speaks at a "Yes" campaign event outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan speaks at a "Yes" campaign event outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/209641672/c290f93d-3923-40cb-aa08-607d23c03fb8.jpg/r599_1051_4718_2921_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We're not coming to take your backyard. We're not coming to claim compensation. We're asking for a Voice to advise the government about us and our next generation for the future, that this gap is closed," she said.
"It's an advisory role. I don't know if people understand that.
"If we don't get this 'yes' vote up, it will take us back 65,000 years because things are not gonna change for us."
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Ms Sheridan said First Nations Australians haven't had a voice since the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was abolished in 2005, an Indigenous body that she had served on as a councillor.
It comes as polling shows the Voice is heading for defeat.
![Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin speaks outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong. Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin speaks outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/209641672/57b724f6-f9e9-45e3-b495-4bc093d978a7.jpg/r0_562_5500_3666_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
On Thursday, polling from online research company YouGov showed "no" was leading the way with 56 per cent, while "yes" only had 38 per cent of the vote.
The survey found that 6 per cent of voters were undecided.
But Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin believes that number is higher and the "pathway to victory" lies in their votes.
"We reckon there are about 25 per cent of that remaining people who are yet to vote are out there to be won," he said.
"There is a very large chunk of Australians out there that can be persuaded to vote 'yes' tomorrow."
![Finance Minister Katy Gallagher speaks at a 'yes' campaign event outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Finance Minister Katy Gallagher speaks at a 'yes' campaign event outside Parliament House on Friday. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/209641672/a0e5e289-09e0-4b92-a3ad-cd7ebf224380.jpg/r0_196_5500_3667_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said "it makes sense" to ask First Nations Australians about the best way to spend the money invested in initiatives to help improve outcomes for Indigenous people.
"It makes good common sense to do that and that's what the Voice will allow," she said.
"And it will allow the country to come together."
But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton argued on Friday that the Voice would not deliver practical outcomes.
He told LAFM radio that if a "no" vote succeeded, there would be "a positive element in terms of us having dodged a bullet".
"I think there's a huge change to our system of government if the Voice gets up and it won't be for the better," he said.
"It'll apply another wet blanket to decision making, it'll slow processes of government down and heaven knows they're slow enough already."