Far from uniting the nation, Australia's Voice referendum has revealed its priorities and prejudices

Within the first 15 seconds of his victory speech in May 2022, newly elected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese forewarned the country of the next big vote.

There would be a referendum within his first term to recognize Indigenous Australians in the constitution and create a permanent body - a Voice to Parliament - to allow them to speak directly to government.

"All of us ought to be proud that amongst our great multicultural society we count the oldest living continuous culture in the world," Albanese said to cheers from his supporters.

Australians would be asked just one question and their answer would herald a new era for Indigenous relations more than 200 years after British settlers crashed onto their shores, occupied their land and terrorized their ancestors.

It would be a way to show that times had changed, that after centuries of being subjugated by settlers' laws, Australia's First Nations people were being given a place in the nation's founding document and a seat at the table.

But less than a week before the final day of voting, polls are pointing to a No, and what was sold as a unifying moment now appears to have collapsed in a tangle of conflicting opinions about who deserves what.

"There's clearly a parallel with what's occurred in the United States and Britain with the Brexit referendum," said Paul Strangio, professor of politics at Monash University.