Anthony Albanese defiant on Voice to parliament and promises to ...

“On Saturday, that culture is reaching out to Australia: a hand outstretched, for us to grasp in friendship. A chance to celebrate the richness of our shared history and to work together for a better future.”

He called on voters around the country to bring the statement to life and push forward Indigenous reconciliation, with “a grey lead pencil and one word: Yes”.

Mr Albanese cast doubt on new polling showing the Voice on track for defeat in electorates around the country, saying the vote was still winnable for the Yes campaign. Mainstream polling has for months shown inadequate support for the referendum question.

“I’m confident, when people focus on what this referendum is about, that we can have a successful outcome on Saturday,” Mr Albanese said.

A group of former Australian of the Year award recipients became the latest high-profile endorsements of the Voice proposal.

Former winners including Patrick McGorry, Evonne Goolagong, Shane Gould, Dylan Alcott, Rosie Batty, Rob de Castella and Mick Dodson signed an open letter calling the Voice “a step to a more united and cohesive nation”.

Other signatories include Peter Doherty, John Farnham, Tim Flannery, Cathy Freeman, Gustav Nossal, Lowitja O’Donoghue, Grace Tame and Fiona Wood.

“I know from decades of working with young people that you can’t solve problems without listening and you can’t hear people without a voice,” Professor McGorry said.

“We have excluded Indigenous views from decisions that affect them for far too long, and now is a rare moment in history when we can come together as a nation, do the right thing, and say yes to the simple request that Australia recognises its first peoples and gives them a Voice.”

AFL team Collingwood’s premiership winning captain, Darcy Moore, also backed the Yes campaign on Tuesday, telling ABC radio an Indigenous body enshrined in the Constitution would improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

“I’ll be voting yes,” he said. “I feel like it’s an intuitive next step and seems to be an important and practical way to help Indigenous Australians and recognise them in the Constitution.

“There’s sort of nothing in there, in the wording of the question, that seems to be problematic to me.”

Campaigning in the battleground state of South Australia on Tuesday, Mr Dutton accused Mr Albanese of dividing the country by proposing the recommendation.

Mr Dutton urged campaigners on both sides to respect Australian Electoral Commission staff members, amid reports of hostility at polling booths. Mr Dutton called for the final days of the debate to be conducted respectfully.

“Instinctively, all Australians want to help Indigenous Australians, but we don’t want another Canberra-based bureaucracy,” he said.