“Yes” supporters want the approximately 900,000 people who identify as Aboriginal in the country to be represented through an advisory body in parliament.
A new step towards more justice? The Australian Senate gave the green light on Monday June 19 to the organization of a historic referendum aimed at giving a “voice” to Aborigines in Parliament. This law, approved by 52 votes against 19, will allow Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to soon set a date for the referendum aimed at revising the Constitution.
If passed, Australian Aborigines, whose ancestors have lived on the continent for at least 60,000 years, will be recognized for the first time in the Constitution, and will have the right to be consulted by the government about laws impact on their communities.
A divisive project
Supporters of the “yes” want the approximately 900,000 people who identify themselves as Aborigines, out of the 25 million inhabitants of Australia, to be represented through an advisory body in Parliament. But the leader of the conservative opposition, Peter Dutton, denounces a division of the country according to racial criteria. “It will have an Orwellian effect where all Australians are equal, but some Australians are more equal than others”he said at the start of the year.
The project is not unanimous among Aboriginal Australians either. For Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, a prominent Indigenous activist, it’s just about creating a “powerless advisory body”. “That’s what it’s all about: assuaging white guilt in this country”she lamented.
For more than a century, Aboriginal people were not considered full citizens and, although their rights are now enshrined in law, deep inequalities remain. This minority faces more difficult living conditions, with less access to health care and education, lower life expectancy, lower wages and a high rate of incarceration.
While early polls predicted most Australians would vote in favor of the plan, recent surveys show declining support as the political debate heats up.