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Despite last-ditch efforts by the Prime Minister and Aboriginal leaders, Australia has overwhelmingly rejected proposals to recognize the country’s Aboriginal population in the constitution.
The proposal would also include an indigenous affairs advisory body called “The Voice” in the constitution, something Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sees as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The failure of the high-profile referendum, which was backed by some of Australia’s biggest companies and institutions, represents a setback in the country’s attempts to address its past and present treatment of Aboriginal people, who make up 3 per cent of Australia’s population. . population.
With more than 8 million votes counted, support for The Voice was 59% to 41% nationally, with support highest in high-income seats in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne.
The referendum also requires a majority vote in four of the country’s six states. Initial voting trends suggest the bill will fail in all states, as well as the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory is a sparsely populated region in the center of the country where most of the country’s rural Aboriginal population lives.
Albanese said late on Saturday that Australia “must pursue a new way forward with the same optimism as the original proposal”.
The No vote, backed by the opposition Liberal and National parties, gained momentum after the Yes movement failed to gain traction on the eve of the country’s first referendum since 1999.
The proposal has been criticized on a number of fronts, from a lack of detail on the structure of the advisory body to whether it would divide the country along racial and ancestral lines. Without bipartisan support, Australia’s referendum will not pass.
Opposition Aboriginal affairs spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the face of the opposition movement in recent weeks, said she was proud Australians refused to support what she called a divisive referendum . “We are definitely not a racist country,” she said of the public rejection of voices.
Linda Burney, the Australian government’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister, said it was a “sad day” but that the event at least highlighted the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia. “This is not the end of reconciliation,” she said.
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