Gosh. Talk about thumping a partisan tub.

The reality is that partisan politics have very little impact on referendums. Most Australians are wary of government attempts to change the Constitution because it almost invariably means giving up power to Canberra.

Dutton is pretty much irrelevant - as he is in federal politics - and framing this as Labor versus Coalition is misguided.

Albo made a sad miscalculation on this and it's going down hard. A YES case has to sell a product. A NO vote is merely to keep what we have, what works.

The YES team has overseen a steady decline in support. The more they talk about this thing, the lower support drops.

In contrast, the NO case's major slogan addresses the weakest point of Albo's strategy. By refusing to reveal details of the legislation he intended to introduce after a YES vote, he was like a used-car salesman saying he'd pick out a great model for you, just sign here and he'd find one he wanted to sell. He'd pick the brand, model, age, colour, condition and price.

And the YES push wonders why people didn't rush to sign up. Geez.