John Hughes is comfortable wearing a T-shirt bearing the message, "Vote no to the Voice."
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It was a shirt he bought online, and the man who helped set up charities including the Dove's Nest Foundation and the Children's Tumour Foundation said he did not expect to see it in local shops.
Yet he said he got repeated nods of approval or thumbs up from people wherever he travelled in the Shoalhaven.
Mr Hughes even said business owners told him they supported his stance, but were frightened of being harassed if they spoke out publicly.
"That's a really sad reflection of how people feel, and it shouldn't be that way," he said.
The North Nowra man hit out at the Voice referendum as being divisive and unnecessary - saying Indigenous Australians already had a voice through an organisation called the Coalition of Peaks.
"It represents the 80 peak indigenous organisations throughout Australia, which then represent 800 communities, and they work with NIAA [the National Indigenous Australians Agency] on all the programs of closing the gap," Mr Hughes said.
"They are doing some very, very good work and will continue to do so."
Both the Coalition of Peaks and the NIAA claimed to represent the voices of indigenous Australians, he said.
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"People don't understand that there already is a Voice out there, and there is some good work being done."
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke about the Voice as having only an advisory role on issues affecting Indigenous Australians, Mr Hughes said the referendum's explanatory notes provided further information.
That included a line saying the Voice would provide advice on "matters relevant to the Australian community, including general laws or measures, but which affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples differently to other members of the community".
"Could that include Australia Day, because they're against it, they're against the flag?" Mr Hughes asked.
He said that was part of the Voice causing divisions within society, with key advocates for the Yes vote talking of establishing self determination, co-sovereignty and separate legal systems as part of the process of voice, treaty and truth.
"Where does the truth start and end, and what are we really signing up to?" he said.
As the husband of a woman with Torres Strait Islander background, Mr Hughes pointed to Australia's success as a multicultural society as evidence the Voice was not needed.
"We're very good hearted, we live in the greatest multicultural country in the world, but you can't keep pushing stuff down people's throats," he said.
"We all want the best for our fellow Australians, but I don't think this is the way to go about it, and it is only causing divisiveness."
