‘All we have to do is vote yes’: Pat Farmer finishes epic 14,000km journey to boost voice support

Former Liberal MP Pat Farmer finishes the last few metres of his 14,400 km run around Australia for the voice referendum at the Mutitjulu waterhole at Uluru on Wednesday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Ultramarathon runner and former Liberal MP Pat Farmer had plenty of time to think about his message to the nation while running more than 14,000km around Australia.

Farmer has been on the epic “run for the voice”, doing an average of 80 kilometres a day since leaving Hobart in April and trekking through all-weather conditions in every state and territory.

Arriving at the base of Uluru, his destination, just after sunrise on Wednesday, Farmer was greeted with cheers and applause, and a hug from the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.

He still had breath to tell the assembled media he had cried when he saw the rock from 40 kilometres out as the sun came up, saying: “This monolith behind me has been a magnet to my soul.”

“I’ve been drawn closer and closer and can’t help but feel some spiritual sense of the place. And there’s an absolute connection between Uluru, this earth we stand on, and the people who inhabit it. And it’s something we all need to embrace and learn from,” he said.

Pat Farmer is embraced by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, at Uluru this morning. Also waiting for him was the Northern Territory chief minister Natasha Fyles, his wife Tania Farmer and a host of well wishers and supporters. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The route Pat ran around Australia. Photograph: Run for the voice with Pat Farmer

He called for Australians to find empathy for First Nations people, and to focus on the question on the ballot paper.

“Empathy, when somebody walks in your shoes when somebody understands what it’s like to live without, and understands the need to close the gap – that’s what we have the opportunity to do this Saturday. All we have to is vote yes and we can change history in this country for the better.”

Leading yes campaigner Noel Pearson said Farmer has been an inspiration.

Pearson said Farmer had not just set the physical pace, but the “moral pace, to reach our destination on Saturday”.

Earlier he told the ABC that Saturday’s referendum will be the “first true accounting” for the nation’s soul “since white settlement”.

Noel Pearson joined Anthony Albanese and Pat Farmer at the end of his ‘run for the voice’ campaign, aiming to raise awareness for the referendum this Saturday. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

“We will find the inner life of our nation with this vote,” he told ABC RN breakfast.

“All of the love and the hope that the yes campaign are drawing on, and all the fear and rage which the no campaign are trying to tap, we collectively hold in our souls.

“And this accounting will bring penetrating insight for all of us … as Australians.”

He urged people to vote with the hearts and “a sense of hope” on Saturday.

“We really can do this,” he said.