Rosalind Jones and Rob Nicholls stood on opposite sides of the footpath handing out 'yes' and 'no' pamphlets as voters queued up in Tamworth to cast their ballot in the The Voice to Parliament referendum.
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They had been at the 515 Peel Street polling station since shortly after Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) booths opened at 8am on Saturday, October 14, and are likely to be there until they close at 6pm when vote counting starts.
![Opposite sides of the footpath outside the polling station on 515 Peel Street in Tamworth on Voice to Parliament referendum day: Rob Nicholls, left, and Rosalind Jones. Picture by Rachel Gray Opposite sides of the footpath outside the polling station on 515 Peel Street in Tamworth on Voice to Parliament referendum day: Rob Nicholls, left, and Rosalind Jones. Picture by Rachel Gray](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/184392265/dabb71e7-3de7-4556-93b0-b4d7e964da97.png/r210_0_3570_1890_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Rosalind Jones - 'yes' voter
Ms Jones compared the Voice to Parliament to women's toilets, saying an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory body in the federal constitution is necessary.
"Look at women's toilets, there's not enough cubicles, and they put the hooks too high up for women," Ms Jones said.
"So, I thought, if women were designing women's toilets, it'd be so much more useful for women.
"And I take that analogy to the Aboriginal people, because if we've got their input about what they need, it would be so much more focused."
Ms Jones said she had received mixed reactions from people as she stood handing out 'Yes' pamphlets at the Peel Street polling booth.
"I had one man telling me I should be ashamed of myself. I've had two people laugh at me and say, 'I hope they put your rent up on your land'," Ms Jones said.
She said she has also had people demanding for pens to ensure their votes weren't rubbed out after marking their ballot papers with the AEC pencils provided.
How can we not want better lives for Aboriginal people?
- Rosalind Jones
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Ms Jones said she supports the Voice to Parliament because she has seen what life was like for Aboriginal Australians while she was going to high school in Tamworth from 1955 to 1959.
It was years before the 1967 referendum passed with an overwhelming majority vote of 90.77 per cent, giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the right to be counted in the census.
Ms Jones said she saw "a nation of Aboriginal people who were discriminated against".
"When I was in school, they lived in humpies [makeshift huts] out on the common and their homes were made out of anything they could find from the tip," Ms Jones said.
The retired history teacher said when she worked at Woolworths during the 1950s, she was "not allowed to sell any people with brown skin" methylated spirits because Aboriginal people were banned from the pubs.
"So some of the more desperate ones would drink methylated spirits, even though it was more damaging [to their health]."
"They weren't allowed into the Tamworth baths, and they could only sit in the front stalls of the picture show. Older Aboriginal people would come around begging for food."
Rob Nicholls - 'no' voter
However, Tamworth man Rob Nicholls said a change to the constitution would be even more detrimental and would end up racially dividing the nation.
"I can't understand why anyone would want to change the national constitution to put in their racial divide," Mr Nicholls said.
"That's why we say it's a divisive referendum. It's not what we want; for people to be divided."
He said "every one agrees there are Aboriginal people who need assistance but changing the constitution is not the answer".
"Things have been done in the past, to try and help them but they haven't worked as well as they should have," Mr Nicholls said.
"But that doesn't mean we should give up trying. So, instead of bringing in the division, they should look at other ways."
Mr Nicholls said he was worried that if a Voice to Parliament is established via a change to the constitution, it would make only some sections of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population richer while leaving behind those who need it most.
"[I think] it's only the elite who are benefiting," Mr Nicholls said.
"I wonder about all those out there that really need help and live in isolated communities and don't get the assistance, [if] the money doesn't get delivered, then where does it go?"
Mr Nicholls said he had not received any adverse reactions or negative comments from people as he stood handing out 'no' pamphlets outside the Peel Street polling booth.
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