Wodonga's Cube fills to capacity as Tony Abbott delivers 'No' address

A sea of "Vote No" T-shirts were worn by the predominantly 50-plus audience who crammed The Cube auditorium.

Organisers said the venue had been booked to its capacity of 310 on Friday night.

Mr Abbott, who had arrived at Albury airport just a few hours earlier, reiterated what he told reporters and onlookers in the arrival lounge.

But this time the staunch anti-Voice campaigner took questions from the audience.

Before he took to the stage at 6.15pm, supporters milled around on the ground floor of the venue which was patrolled by security staff but not the strong police presence seen at Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney's appearance at the same venue on July 25 for the yes campaign.

Matt Hogan, a former union official, with his wife Stacey, said he had already committed to voting "no" at the October 14 Voice referendum.

"I just came along to see if Tony's going to share any more information," he said. "We came along to the last one with Warren Mundine (on July 30) and we got a lot out of that.

"I was really impressed with him and the information he gave out - but we're not undecided - we're voting no. There's a diverse crowd here - I was a union rep for 15 years with the nurses' union.

"It's not just necessarily one side or the other, I just don't trust politics at the moment and anything that is supported by big business, there's question marks on it.

"I probably knew I was going to vote no before I went to see Mundine but I understood a lot more after hearing his perspective and that's what I'm looking for now."

Wodonga man Steve Panozzo before the speech said he had been to the Mundine speech late in July and had already decided how he would vote before arriving at The Cube on Monday night.

"Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to see Linda Burney, but I made it here tonight, I just wanted to learn a bit more about what's going on," he said. "Like most Australians, I think it's like trying to be sold a car but without having a chance to actually test drive it.

"And I'm concerned that, you know, even without any of the knowledge, it's a bit like the Second Amendment in America, they thought that was a fantastic idea at the time as well. And look, look what's happened there.

"I'm a no voter but I do want to find out more, I encourage everyone to learn, don't rely on other people, go and hear it from the horse's mouth, you've got to learn what's going on."

After Mr Abbot's speech, he took a question from an unidentified member of the audience: "When the vote's been completed and, hopefully it is a no vote, the nation's currently very divided and I think it's been horrible. What can we do to try and bring everyone back together again, and maybe even use some of the momentum for good afterwards?"

Mr Abbot replied: "First of all, we've got to accept the result, whatever it is, and if as I hope it is a no, let it be a respectful no, not a kind of an aggressive and kind of triumphalist no.

"We've got to treat our fellow Australians with respect, and a degree of affection, that's what's called for from all of us at all times."

That was followed by another question from the audience from a man who also declined to offer his name.

"If the yes vote got up, would it weaken the power of the governor-general?" he asked Mr Abbott. "Do you think if the yes vote gets up, it's a sneaky way or a way forward to a republic by stealth?"

Mr Abbott said: "I think if the yes vote gets up, it'll certainly add to the momentum inside the current government for a further constitutional change in the next term of parliament.

"But nevertheless, I do think that the Voice and the possible republic are two separate issues, and they should be judged each on their own merits as opposed to being conflated.

"But the point is, a lot of the people behind the Voice have almost unlimited ambitions for it.

"While the government in recent times has been at pains to stress that it's just an advisory body ... well actually, no.

"Something that has its own chapter in the constitution, along with the executive, the judiciary, and the parliament is much more than just a committee. It's much more than just another advisory body."

Another member's question was aimed at both the crowd and Mr Abbott.

"I'm just wondering whether everybody in this room has heard of a book called Red Over Black?," she asked, referring to a book released in the early 1980s which claimed the land rights movement was a Communist plot. "It is exactly what is happening now - has anyone read it?"

Mr Abbott said: "The point I'd make is, there are a lot of different people who are pushing the Voice. And one of them seems to have some, I guess background as a bit of a political radical.

"But there are a lot of people who are not radical, who are not extremists who are certainly not Communists, who for their own reasons are pushing the Voice.

"I guess there are some people who think some voice is better than no voice ... even a bad voice is better than no voice. But again, if we're ever to have a voice, let it be the best possible voice."

Then a Yes supporter picked up the microphone.

"Hi, my name is Bridget, I'm one of the volunteers for the Albury-Wodonga Yes 23 campaign, and my question for you is how did 'the gap' - in life expectancy and standard of living - originate?"

Mr Abbott said: "The reason for the gap today? I don't think it's colonialism. I don't think it's racism ... it's a long time since we were a colony.

"And if there were racism in our country's past, there's less of it than ever before, today. There's certainly no official racism, and there's certainly no legal racism or institutional racism today. But if you don't go to school, your employment chances are radically prejudiced and jeopardised.

"If we want to close the gap, a voice, which almost inevitably is going to be concerned with a whole lot of extraneous issues is not the way to go. If you want to close the gap, as I said, kids to school, adults to work, community safe, that's the way to do it," he said before a hearty round of applause.

As people filed out the doors of the venue, Mary Seidel said she was now certain of how she would vote, although, she said, her mind was mostly made up before she listened to Mr Abbott.

"The prime minister gave us no plan of what was going to be done, it was just a voice," Mrs Seidel said. "He gave us no indication of what's going to follow, he hasn't even read the Uluru statement, so why should we vote for something that he hasn't even bothered to read?

"I mean, to be fair, it's not been well laid out, it was a vibe, it was an off-the-cuff thing that he thought he'd just rush out, it's not good."

Ross White, who was in Mrs Seidel's group of five friends, said he couldn't deal with the "unknown" factor in the whole issue.

"I was fairly staunchly no on the basis that is is the unknown, that's the reason why I'm so strongly against it," he said. "I didn't learn a lot tonight but Mr Abbott reiterated what I believed and more or less solidified what my thoughts were.

"I don't think anything new came out, I think what he spoke of was what I believe he believed in.

"I'm really strong against it because of the lack of knowledge about how those people are going to be elected and what they're going to actually take to the voice.

"I don't think if we got a representative of what's needed, a representation of the whole of the Aboriginal movement.

"I think he (Mr Albanese) boldly did it off his own back, without any bloody thought at all how it was going to take place.

"And that's why I think the problem, they still don't know how it's going to be because they'll be having meeting after meeting after meeting."

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: