Voice to parliament referendum fails in defeat that Indigenous advocates will see as a blow to progress towards reconciliation

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

  • Cypher@aussie.zoneEnglish
    10·
    1 year ago

    There are essentially two parts to what was proposed, the first is that having mention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island (ATSI) peoples in the constitution is recognition.

    The second part, which is actually the exact mechanism which was proposed, was a permanent advisory body made up of ATSI representatives with constitutional power to give advice to the Government on issues related to or impacting ATSI people.

    The exact details of the advisory body were up to legislation which we will probably never see.

      • Cypher@aussie.zoneEnglish
        82·
        1 year ago

        A few of the arguments or concerns voiced by Australian’s included:

        -A Voice with no power is pointless

        -Lack of detail in the proposal

        -Separating Australian’s by race is divisive (note there’s already constitutional race powers, which I disagree with and hope will be scrapped)

        -ATSI people would have more representation than others (they actually have proportionally higher representation in Parliament today than their percentage of population)

        -Leaving the exact details of the Voice to legislation means any future government could gut it without violating the constitutional amendment

        -concerns this is the first push on a path to treaty and reparations as a percentage of GDP (which WAS discussed as a possibility by the people who worked on the Uluru statement)

        I’ve left out the outright lies, though I guarantee someone will take issue with me simply mentioning the talking points to give you context.