The Canberra Times backs 'yes' vote in Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum

Ours is a city of robust politics and bureaucratic checks and balances. Surely in Canberra we can have faith one more voice will not upend democracy.

Ours is also a progressive and thoughtful city where, despite our remoteness from the worst hardships faced by so many Aboriginal people, we care about improving the prospects for our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Surely, in Canberra, we can imagine how a stronger role in shaping policy can only improve things.

And as Canberrans, we respect the unique place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hold in our nation's story, here in a city of a mere 110 years built on a landscape lived on for tens of thousands of years.

While polling indicates the "yes" vote has fallen away even in Canberra in recent months, we can expect residents of the ACT will be among its biggest supporters in the polling booths. A frustration is that our votes will carry less weight than those cast over the border. As a territory, ours will be bundled up in the national tally but not counted in the all-important majority-of-states measure. More galling is that the Northern Territory - home to by far the highest per capita Aboriginal population in the country - suffers the same fate.

Despite the rancour at the national level, despite the claims to bitter division, evidence in Canberra has been of a considered debate.

Those who have done their civic duty to inform themselves and who will vote "no" will be doing so from a place of reasonable concern or a lack of conviction that this is the best change. Out-and-out racism will not be a strong driver of the "no" vote in Canberra.

However, as a nation we may long pay a price for the appeal to fear underpinning the "no" case - fear of division, fear of bloated bureaucracy, fear of outsized influence.

Claims from Peter Dutton and co that the Voice would divide Australia are an arsonist shouting "fire!". Divisions we wake up to on Sunday will be largely of their making.

This campaign of derailment has echoed the case made against same-sex marriage six years ago, in predicting dire consequences from a modest change, despite ample contradictory evidence and experience.

The simple fact is a Voice to Parliament would be designed and approved by that same Parliament. It would provide advice on relevant policy, not make decisions.

Indeed, it doesn't take a cynic to think it would have far less sway than various business, union or other special interest groups already comfortably ensconced in our democratic system. The difference is it would be constitutionally enshrined, protecting from obliteration by one government or another.

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Canberra and this newspaper have been on the side of progress many times in the past. While we have good reason to expect the referendum will fail, The Canberra Times believes a "yes" vote is in the best interests of Aboriginal people and the nation. We say this while respectfully acknowledging some readers will have concluded the opposite.

A Voice would provide a new opportunity for Aboriginal people to have a say in affairs that affect them. It would justifiably enshrine their unique position in our history in the constitution - the document some call our national "birth certificate".

It would not solve everything, but nor would it do any harm. It would represent progress, and progress in improving our nation's relationship with its First Nations people and the quality of their lives is in everyone's interest.