Australians have headed to the polls to cast their vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum.
The vote will decide if Indigenous Australians should be formally recognised in the Australian Constitution and whether an advisory body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice should be established to make representations to the Federal Government.
To succeed, a double majority is needed. This means the referendum will pass if the majority of Australians and the majority of states vote Yes. There are six states in Australia so four states are needed for the vote to pass.
Follow our live coverage as the results roll in. This article will be updated regularly.
5.35pm — Voice is ‘going down’
Sky News presenter and Yes supporter Chris Kenny has conceded the Voice referendum is “going down” and predicted that barring a miracle it won’t secure a majority.
Despite the fact that the polls were yet to close, the conservative commentator conceded that published polling suggested the Yes vote can’t win.
Speaking on Sky News’ referendum coverage, he also lashed the media for not ensuring there was a “mature” debate.
“Unless there’s some sort of a miracle, this referendum is going down,’’ Kenny said.
He also accused political leaders and the media of letting down the country.
“History in Australia being made tonight. I think major parties and the media have let the country down. We have not had a mature debate,” he said.
Kenny has repeatedly clashed with No supporter Peta Credlin during the campaign.
He has previously branded the Coalition “ugly” and “cynical” for seizing the “historically significant reconciliation project” as a “partisan, political weapon to be used against the federal Labor government”.
“Senior Coalition figures now see defeating the referendum as their primary political priority to inflict political damage on the Prime Minister,” Kenny wrote in The Australian earlier this year.
“Decades of Indigenous advocacy and consultation, including by Coalition governments, driven by the noblest of intentions, are being disrespected.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud accused the Prime Minister of “hubris.”
“He let it get away from him and he didn’t bring the parties with him and he was warned not to divide our country,” he said. “This sits solely at his feet.”
— Samantha Maiden
When will we know a result?
Counting will begin almost immediately after the polls close.
However, postal and overseas voters have 13 days for the votes to be received and counted by the Australian Electoral Commission. And with up to 1.2 million people voting by mail, it’s not insignificant.
That means we may not have an official result until October 27. However, we could have a big indication of the result by 7.30pm AEDT.
The AEC won’t announce an official result on election night.
Predictions of how the vote will go
Most pollsters report that not one state in Australia will log a majority of Yes votes.
Also, the Yes vote seems destined not to receive an overall majority.
It’s bad news for the Yes campaign.
However, a recent Newspoll showed a late swing to the Yes vote — but it probably won’t be enough to turn the tide.
Polling centre information
The polls opened at 8am and will close at 6pm.
A list of voting centre locations is available here.
How to watch the results coverage
We’ll be updating the results here, but you can also follow along on TV.
There’s coverage on Sky News, ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9.