Yes supporters take steps towards goal

THE pavilion space at Alfred Deakin Place was swarmed with a sea of hundreds of people on Sunday in support of a yes vote in the upcoming voice referendum.

The assembly, organised by Ballarat for Yes volunteers, gathered walking from Sturt Street’s Queen Alexandra Bandstand with the aim of raising awareness for the vote which would see an Indigenous advisory body established in Federal Parliament.

Angela Wylie was one of the hundreds of volunteers to take part and said the turnout showed the support the Ballarat community has for its Indigenous people.

“What it shows today is that it’s a chance to be optimistic about this process, and to encourage people to think hard about what’s happening,” she said.

“They can see that it’s not a scary thing. A lot of very good people support this. It’s a smart move and if Aboriginal people want it, we should do it.”

The walk’s finish was celebrated with a performance from Wutyualuk woman Zerene Jaadwa, who reprised her original piece Not Anymore which she’d played during the Ballarat for Yes launch.

One of the event organisers Billy McCabe estimated more than 850 people took part in the walk.

He said a key aim was to show people what information is out there regarding a voice to Parliament.

“The no campaign, quite disingenuously, are arguing there’s no information on this. There is so much information out there,” he said.

“We’ve made that available for people to inform themselves and share. We ask everybody to keep turning up for campaign actions and to be there on early voting and referendum day.

“A lot of people are still deciding about which way they’ll vote. When they see friends and family walking and gathering together, it’s an important queue that this is something the community wants.”

Ballarat’s Walk 4 YES event was one of more than 30 similar initiatives that took place on Sunday in support of the Yes 23 campaign.