The Voice referendum LIVE updates: Australians head to polls ...

More voting centres are now open across the country, with South Australians and Queenslanders now able to attend their local polling places.

South Australia is seen as a crucial state for the referendum to succeed, while Queensland is considered a stronghold of the No vote.

Here’s how the latest polling by Resolve Strategic has each state placed:

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and NSW Premier Chris Minns spoke to the media on the Voice to parliament referendum this morning. You can watch the press conference here:

The Australian Electoral Commission has just provided its final update on the number of people who have voted ahead of polling day in the Voice to parliament referendum.

​Of the 17.6 million people on the electoral roll, 8.41 million have voted early either via postal vote or in-person at an early voting centre.

Millions have voted early in the Voice to parliament referendum.Credit: Matt Jelonek

That means that around 9.2 million people still need to vote today.

​Overall, around 6.13 million people voted at an early voting centre – the highest in history. It beats the 5.6 million who did so at the 2022 federal election.

The AEC’s Evan Ekin-Smyth was on ABC News 24 a short time ago, where he was asked whether voters can wear a shirt or badge from either the Yes or No camps into a polling booth.

Here’s his response:

Yes, you can.

The rule is about not actively campaigning in a polling place. If you are wearing a Yes or No shirt or a badge, pin or hat, whatever it might be, make sure you don’t gesture towards it, talk about it in the polling place, or you could find yourself the subject of a complaint.

Avoid all that, so perhaps take the hat off, cover up the shirt if you can. If you can’t, behave yourself.

My colleague Caitlin Fitzsimmons covered this issue a few days ago as well, after an Indigenous man was reportedly turned away from a pre-poll venue for wearing a Yes T-shirt.

PM Anthony Albanese wearing a Yes t-shirt.Credit: Justin McManus

The Yes campaign has sold a huge number of T-shirts, pins, badges, hats and even earrings to promote the cause. The same rules would apply to anyone wearing No paraphernalia.

The rules on campaign clothing are the same for elections, but ordinary voters are less likely to wear campaign clothing in an election.

Australians are set to vote down the Voice to parliament referendum, according to the most recent polling conducted by Resolve Strategic for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.

A clear majority of 56 per cent have indicated that they plan to vote No to the Voice, with Tasmania the only state in the country where the Yes vote is leading.

The survey was published at the beginning of the week, so it doesn’t take into account any last-minute momentum for either side.

The referendum needs a double majority to succeed, which means a majority of votes across the country, as well as a majority in more than half the six states.

You can read more about the poll here.

The first polling booths are now open! Those currently Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and the ACT can now head down to their local voting centre to cast their vote in the referendum.

Millions have already voted early but there are still plenty of Australians who are yet to hand in their ballot paper.

And, of course, voting in Australia means democracy sausages (I’m thinking we need a better name, maybe suffrage snags, franchise frankfurts or ballot bangers).

If there’s anything tasty at your local primary school or community centre, please snap a pic and send it my way at [email protected] or I’m on Twitter (now known as X) and even Threads.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney appeared on ABC News 24 just a few minutes ago, conducting the interview outside a polling booth in the Sydney suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands.

When asked why opinion polls had shown a fall in support for the Voice since the start of the campaign, Burney said she was going to work until 6pm tonight (when polls close) to convince everyone she can to vote Yes.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney.Credit: AFR

“You have a chance to change history in this country,” she told the ABC’s viewers.

“You have a chance to make Australia a better nation and get better outcomes for Aboriginal people. It is so wrong that the life expectancy of Aboriginal people is as low as 42 in the APY Lands. Suicide rates are twice as high. These things are unacceptable. Every Australian today has a chance to change that. That’s by voting Yes in this referendum.”

Burney said that she was absolutely focused on the referendum succeeding today and did not directly address what she thought a No vote would mean for Indigenous Australians.

“The issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country are a national shame,” she said.

“The good thing is that everyone agrees on that. This is people’s opportunity, we know one in five voters are still to make up their mind. This is everyone’s opportunity to actually change those outcomes.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged Australians to cast their vote for Yes today, making the argument that “kindness costs us nothing”.

“This week of all weeks, where we see such trauma in the world, there is nothing, no cost to Australians in showing kindness with their heart as well as their head when they enter the polling booth tomorrow and voting Yes,” he said while campaigning in South Australia on Friday.

“Because, my goodness, kindness costs nothing. Thinking of others cost nothing.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese campaigns on the eve of the Voice referendum.Credit: Chris Crerar

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is asking Australians to vote No and said such a result would not be a rejection of Indigenous Australians.

“I hope it’s a No vote on the weekend because it hasn’t been properly explained, it’s divisive, it’s permanent once it goes into the Constitution, and I just don’t think in their millions Australians are going to support it,” Dutton told the Nine Network on Friday.

“It won’t be a message of rejection to Indigenous Australians, quite the opposite. We want practical outcomes for people in Indigenous communities.”

Read more here.