‘I’m living on optimism’: Pearson finds hope for Voice in a Sydney Westfield

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For Noel Pearson, a visit to the Liberal heartland of Hornsby on Thursday to campaign for the Indigenous Voice to parliament became a whistlestop foodie tour as friendly shopkeepers pushed samples of olives, seafood, doughnuts and coffee on the First Nations leader.

Joined by Liberal politicians and prominent Yes supporters, local federal MP Julian Leeser and local state MP Matt Kean, Pearson visited several shops in the Hornsby Westfield and also spoke to customers and stallholders at the outdoor food market.

The seafood shop in the Hornsby Westfield where Indigenous leader Noel Pearson was given an oyster to try.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Most people who spoke to Pearson, Kean and Leeser said they would be voting Yes in the referendum, which will be between October and December this year. Many asked for selfies.

Pearson agreed with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said earlier this week the Yes campaign “needed to be stronger in putting the case”.

“We need to get out there – this referendum is ours to win,” Pearson said.

Pearson, who comes from Cape York, said NSW was the third leg of his tour after the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and Tasmania. It also included an event with Labor MP Tanya Plibersek, and campaigning in Newcastle with the Catholic Archdiocese.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson speaking to voters in Hornsby.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Pearson said getting out and meeting people made him optimistic about the outcome of the referendum.

“I’m really pleased with the reaction, it’s a shot in the arm talking to ordinary people in the street,” Pearson said. “I’m living on optimism and hope, and I’m getting it.”

Pearson said it was important to campaign with both Liberal and Labor politicians, so voters did not construe it as a partisan matter.

Kean said he was actively trying to get Yes supporters in the Liberal Party to join the campaign.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson with federal MP Julian Leeser (centre) and state MP Matt Kean speaking to Christa from the honey stall.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Pearson said the opposition to the Voice came from the far right and the far left, and that should comfort mainstream Australians.

“The Voice is right down the middle, it’s a sensible balance,” Pearson said.

“It’s substantive, it’s meaningful, but it’s not radical. The measure for that is that we’ve got both extreme ends against it, whereas down the middle is the Voice.”

Gita Sundarji, who lives near Hornsby, said Indigenous people “should absolutely have a say in everything that’s going on in the country”.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson campaigning Yes for a Voice to parliament with Matt Kean and Julian Leeser, the local Liberal MPs in Hornsby.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Local Liberal party branch members John Ringrose, 77, and his wife Meg said they supported the Voice. Meg said she was a Wiradjuri woman who grew up mostly in Sydney.

Trevor Davis, 83, backed “a Yes to the Voice and a yes to compassion”, but he regularly received anti-Voice emails from about three “conservative email friends”.

Ivan Bosnich said he was always talking up the Voice down at the Hornsby Men’s Shed where he runs the toys program.

“Indigenous people need to be respected and to be included, and after all, it was their land,” Bosnich said.

He said the 170-odd members of the Men’s Shed come from “different walks of life”, so his views had a mixed reception.

Christa, a stallholder selling honey who declined to give her surname, said she was undecided because it was unclear if all Aboriginal people wanted it.

Pearson told her about the opinion polls saying the Voice had 80 per cent support among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the highest of any group.

He told the Herald the level of Indigenous support was one of the most common questions he got when he was out campaigning, along with whether it would deliver practical outcomes.

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