Maitland for Yes campaign vows to fight on despite resounding No vote

Paterson, Hunter and Lyne electorates resoundingly rejected the Voice proposal - in line with voting trends in regional Australia.

Ms Coombe said looking at the results, including a 70 per cent No vote in Paterson, the Yes campaign always faced an uphill battle in Maitland.

"The polls were not in our favour for a majority of the time, certainly leading up into those final months of the referendum," she said.

"We were ever hopeful that Australia would see through the noise and know the truth behind the meaning of Yes."

The Yes campaign enlisted the help of 200 volunteers - including weekly wobble board shifts at busy roads, door knocking and phone calls.

Ms Coombe, who is a Labor party member, praised the hard work of campaign volunteers and said the group will continue to push for change.

"We have seen how much goodwill there is in the community and there is a very motivated group of people who want to see change and are ready to continue working together to be that change in the community," she said.

"We have a group from a range of political persuasions - both members of parties and not members of parties.

"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have showed us that they are a very resilient people and we take inspiration from the resilience."

Blake Keating, campaign manager at Newcastle and Hunter for No and a Liberal party member, said the way forward for Aboriginal reconciliation was to follow Liberal leader Peter Dutton's suggestion of a referendum on recognising Indigenous people in the preamble to the constitution.

"I think that would get the overwhelming support of the community, and when it comes to closing the gap and all of these other things that are important to everyone, every fair-minded Australian wants to close the gap," Mr Keating told ACM.

"For us, that means having the national conversation we should have been having from the very beginning about the challenges those communities face and what's the most effective way for state and territory governments to approach it.

"I think the community, after this process, will expect the Labor party and other parties in the Parliament to actually put forward real agendas to achieve the things that everyone in the community says they want."

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