Australians voted against a constitutional amendment on Saturday that would have recognized the country’s Indigenous peoples and provided them with an advisory body, or “Voice,” to Parliament. The result had been predicted by polls but nonetheless came as a crushing blow for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who saw the referendum as an opportunity for Australia to turn the page on its colonial and racist past.
The Voice, deliberately drafted as a “modest proposal,” would have advised Parliament on issues relating to Indigenous peoples, such as housing, health care and employment, but would not have had veto power.
Instead, the opposition appeared to have successfully stirred fears over the proposal’s consequences with the slogan “If you don’t know, vote no” and claims that it was divisive, as well as targeted social media posts that were sometimes misleading or false.
The defeat was also a setback for the center-left Labour government and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who made the referendum a priority after winning office last year.
– Washington Post
