{"id":96330,"date":"2023-09-15T04:57:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T18:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=96330"},"modified":"2023-09-15T09:11:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T23:11:57","slug":"stepping-out-for-yes-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/stepping-out-for-yes-votes\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping out for yes votes"},"content":{"rendered":"

AN ultramarathon runner campaigning for a yes vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum arrived in Ballarat over the weekend as part of a national trek.<\/p>\n

Since taking the first steps of his 14,400-kilometre journey in Tasmania in April, Pat Farmer\u2019s run, expected to conclude at Uluru in early October, brought him to town on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The former Liberal Party politician was welcomed by a throng of people lining Doveton Street from the corner of Sturt Street to Mitchell Harris Wines.<\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s important he does all he can to encourage people to back the constitutional change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe yes campaign has been a bit slow on the mark and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s given the no campaigners their bit of traction earlier on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who starts the race but who finishes it. This is probably the most important race Australia can be in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one where we can finally put a lot of the issues from the past to rest and move forward together.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing my footsteps as a thread like this and speaking at functions in the mornings and evenings in different places is bringing this to the communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Farmer said which way to vote shouldn\u2019t be a political question.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis really is a human rights issue,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of my time has been about breaking barriers from politicians looking to use this as a political platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve found from this is people are flabbergasted that the question is such a simple question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about closing the gap and giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a voice on issues that affect them.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Australians set to have their say on the voice on Saturday 14 October, Mr Farmer is running about 80 kilometres per day to reach his goal on the Wednesday just prior to polls opening.<\/p>\n

Following Tasmania, he headed to Perth, and moved clockwise around the continent. He arrived in Melbourne last Saturday, before setting off towards Ballarat.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Member for Ballarat Catherine King was one of dozens of people who welcomed Pat Farmer in his run into the city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Federal Member for Ballarat, Catherine King, who has also been campaigning for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament since late February, welcomed Mr Farmer.<\/p>\n

She said his stop will bring more local attention to the Yes 23 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Pat here, he\u2019s been running a long way just today and it\u2019s been very visible to people so they\u2019re going to be thinking about the referendum and what they\u2019re going to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt raises awareness about it here. Pat\u2019s been talking to people from the length and breadth of this country, talking to them about why he\u2019s voting yes and why they should vote yes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AN ultramarathon runner campaigning for a yes vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum arrived in Ballarat over the weekend as part of a national trek. Since taking the first steps of his 14,400-kilometre journey in Tasmania in April, Pat Farmer\u2019s run, expected to conclude at Uluru in early October, brought him to town […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":96331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-96330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStepping out for yes votes - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/stepping-out-for-yes-votes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stepping out for yes votes - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AN ultramarathon runner campaigning for a yes vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum arrived in Ballarat over the weekend as part of a national trek. 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