How the 2023 Referendum was won

Many people were pleasantly surprised that 2023’s ‘the Voice’ referendum failed by as much as it did. 

Our culture and traditions in Australia mean that we have an aversion to the government treating people differently. But it was still a concern given the millions of dollars and backing from elites, government and corporations. Remember how Qantas gave the yes camp free flights? Next time they ask the taxpayer for a bailout, let's all remember that.

That they couldn’t even win a rigged vote tells you how unpopular this stuff is.

When you think about it, this is exactly why referendums are harder to achieve than a normal political vote - some things are too important to decide based on the mood of the day.  

We thought the result wouldn’t be close for another reason. It motivated the usually politically unmotivated. Most normal people just want to live their life without interference, this annoyed just enough of them so much that they did something about it. 

Even with the millions of dollars, celebrity endorsements and free flights there’s no way they were going to beat a few motivated Aussies. 

This photo is an example of a thousand small ways a thousand different people affected the outcome. Thank you to the community for sending it in.

This may be illegal, so we definitely don’t condone or endorse it!