Majority of Bendigo votes against Voice to Parliament

The Bendigo electorate registered 57,683 'No' votes according to the Australia Electoral Commission while the 'Yes' camp chalked up 38,181 votes.

Across the Bendigo area there were 62 voting booths, all of which have been fully tallied, where almost 97 thousands votes were cast in the referendum.

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Overall, there was a swing of 60.17 percent of the population voting no while 39.83 percent voted yes and 1.01 percent voted informally.

Despite the turnout at the referendum, Federal Bendigo member Lisa Chesters said she thinks the people of the electorate are still good-minded and compassionate people.

"Deep down I genuinely believe that people across our electorate are inclusive and do want the best outcomes for each other," she said.

"On this occasion there is a bit of a divide how we get (to reconciliation), the majority of people in Bendigo said amending the Constitution was not the way to go."

"I don't think that means they are opposed to closing the gap with First Nations people, i just think it means they don't agree with amending the constitution."

Ms Chesters said while the result was "surprising" it showed her how to better her own communication with the people of the district going forward.

She said when she is back engaging with the community she will be asking why they decided against voting for the Voice.

"I think it will take me a while to unpack and understand (the result of the referendum)," she said.

"I'll be continuing to do what I do every day which is get out and meet people, have my listening posts and I'll be asking people 'can you share with me why (you voted no)'.

"What I found was some people did not really know much about Indigenous disadvantage, some people hadn't read the constitution so I think there is a lot I can take away from this event about how to better engage and inform and talk to people."

The referendum sought to change the Australian Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians as the first peoples of the continent and establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice.

The voice would have acted as an advisory body to the Federal Government to better help the Parliament fund programs to help Aboriginal people and begin to close the gaps in education, health, housing and other social areas.

Ms Chesters said there was still a pathway forward to close the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia.

But with the referendum failing it was time to work on a new strategy to discover that path.

Across Victoria the finally tally of votes read; 'Yes' 1,535,706 or 45.1 percent while the 'No' votes count stands at 1,869,298 or 54.9 percent.

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While nationally the votes totalled so far have the count at 60.44 percent against the Voice and 39.59 in favour.

The Voice to Parliament referendum needed a double majority result, meaning a majority of the voting population followed by a majority of the States or Territories.

These figures are valid as of October 15 and liable to change as voting continues in electorates.

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