How communities voted as Riverina, Farrer overwhelmingly reject Voice

Riverina and Farrer voters have overwhelmingly rejected an Indigenous Voice to Parliament at Saturday's referendum.

In the Riverina, the proposal to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens to have an advisory body attracted only 28 per cent support, with 72 per cent voting 'no'.

The electorate covers an area of 48,988 square kilometres, extending from Cowra to Ungarie and from Parkes to Lockhart, with 100 polling places available at the referendum.

The latest Australian Electoral Commission data showed South Wagga Public School's booth was almost 50-50, with 455 'no' votes and 388 in support, while the Wesley Church Hall booth recorded 825 'no' votes and 704 'yes', and the Turvey Park booth had 581 'yes' and 732 'no'.

Nationals Member for Riverina Michael McCormack said the significant opposition reflected the community's concern over a lack of information from the government about a "massive change to our constitution".

"Australians don't like their constitution being readily changed," Mr McCormack, a 'no' advocate, said on Sunday.

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"It has been in place since 1901 and it's only been changed just a few times in 45 referenda.

"So, again yesterday, it showed that Australians like the founding document, the way it is written, and they don't readily accept change, particularly when that change hasn't been explained to them."

"We shouldn't be dividing our country by race."

While Mr McCormack did agree more needed to be done to help "close the gap", he said the Voice was only "going to provide another layer of bureaucracy".

"Australians weren't quite sure how that was going to actually close the gap and bring about the needs and expectations that Aboriginal communities do need," he said.

"So we now have to work together united to get those outcomes that Aboriginal communities deserve and need and expect.

"We need practical, sensible solutions to the disadvantage that Aboriginal people have, particularly in those remote communities. But the Voice wasn't it."

Asked what the solutions would be, and what he would be campaigning for, the Riverina MP said the cashless welfare debit card should be reintroduced and there also needed to be a "royal commission into how Aboriginal money is spent".

"There's $34 billion of it. Where is it going? Is it meeting needs? Why isn't it targeting those areas that best or that most need it?," Mr McCormack said.

Despite the overwhelming win for the 'no' vote, the MP said Sunday was not a day for celebration - rather a day of reflection.

"I don't think it's a day for pats on the back and self congratulations because Aboriginal people do need help, they do need assistance," Mr McCormack said.

"But this [the Voice] wasn't it, this wasn't going to provide what they most desperately need."

Mr McCormack said it was now time to "put a line in the sand".

"Let's move on, and let's try to - united and together - seek the answers that we need," he said.

In Farrer, only 25.2 per cent of voters supported the Voice, with 74.8 per cent voting 'no'.

Only two out of 87 booths in Farrer, which covers 126,590 square kilometres and stretches along the Murray River to the South Australian border - from Albury to Wentworth and Griffith - had a majority of "yes" voters.

They were Albury Public School (851 to 750) and Albury High School (428 to 390).

The starkest examples of the "yes" case failing were at Blighty, near Deniliquin, where only 8 of 123 voters supported a Voice and at Oaklands which recorded 17 'yes' ballots compared to 148 'no' slips.

The early voting booths in Albury and Lavington reflected the broad sentiment of city residents with for and against tallies of 4457 to 9625 and 1421 to 4031, respectively.

In the Birthplace of Federation, there was big support for not having an Indigenous Voice with the prepoll centre at Corowa having 735 'yes' votes compared to 2552 for 'no'.

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