Majority of Geelong region says “no” to the Voice

AT LEAST half of residents in the Geelong region voted against establishing a Voice to Parliament.

The result broadly reflects the national response to Saturday’s referendum, with voters in Wannon recording a vote even higher than the 60.69 per cent “no” majority.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) “Tally Room” website, as of Tuesday this week, 52.42 per cent of the Corangamite electorate had voted “no”, compared to 47.58 per cent for “yes”, and there were 903 informal votes.

Of the 44 polling locations in Corangamite, there was a majority of “yes” voters in only 17 places:

• Armstrong Creek East
• Barwon Heads
• Bellbrae
• Charlemont
• Highton South (Corangamite), by only five votes
• Moriac
• Mount Duneed Upper
• Ocean Grove
• Ocean Grove South
• Ocean Grove West
• Point Lonsdale
• Queenscliff
• Special Hospital Team 3
• Torquay
• Torquay Corangamite Pre-Poll Voting Centre (PPVC)
• Torquay East, and
• Torquay North.

Wallington voted “no” by only three votes, and Beacon Point voted “no” by only seven votes.

In Corio, to the north, 54.90 per cent of the electorate voted “no” while 45.10 per cent voted “yes”, alongside 970 informal votes.

The electorate’s 41 polling places recorded a “no” vote in 21 of them, with the 20 majority “yes” locations being:

• Belmont
• Belmont North
• Geelong
• Geelong South
• Geelong West
• eelong West Upper
• Hamlyn Heights, by only 17 votes
• Herne Hill
• Highton
• Highton North
• Highton South (Corio)
• Highton West
• Lara CBD
• Lara East, by only six votes
• Manifold Heights
• Newtown
• Newtown South
• Other Mobile Team 1 (across multiple sites), and
• Two of the three Special Hospital Teams, with the third voting “no” by only four votes.

In Wannon, which starts at Anglesea and stretches south and west all the way to the South Australian border, there was a 68.62 per cent “no” vote, with 942 informal votes.

Of the 98 polling places, only 10 had a “yes” majority:

• Aireys Inlet
• Anglesea
• Apollo Bay
• Birregurra
• Deans Marsh
• Forrest
• Gellibrand River
• Lavers Hill
• Port Fairy, and
• Torquay Wannon PPVC.

Special Hospital Team 4 in Wannon recorded a “no” majority by seven votes, Barwon Wannon PPVC voted “no” by four votes, and Warrnambool was a dead heat at 345 votes each.

The AEC opened more than 7,000 polling places across Australia on Saturday, and will take up to 13 days from that date to record postal votes.

For the full results, head to tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumNationalResults-29581.htm