Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney attend a media conference at Parliament House in Canberra on October 14, 2023. Australians have roundly rejected greater rights for Indigenous citizens, scuppering plans to amend the country's 122-year-old constitution after a divisive and racially-tinged referendum campaign. - AFP
SYDNEY: Australia has voted against including First Nations people in the country’s constitution, projections show, rejecting a proposal to set up an Indigenous advisory body to Parliament.
With more than 38% of ballots counted in the national electorate of 17.6 million people, the "no” campaign was clearly leading in Saturday’s referendum, according to projections by Australian Broadcasting Corp.
In addition to a national majority, changes to Australia’s constitution also require the support of at least four of the country’s six states - a so-called double-majority. As of Saturday night, the states of New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia are projected to have voted against the Voice to Parliament.
The result will be a setback to reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Australians and a political blow to the center-left Labor government that’s been in office less than 18 months. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had hoped the ballot would bring Australians together in a moment of unity, instead it has exposed division and raised allegations of racism.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the Labor government would respect the result, although he described it as "disappointing.”
"Going forward now, we are really mindful that while the Australian people have not voted for a change in the constitution, I don’t think this is indicative of any lessening sense of a desire for reconciliation,” he said.
Albanese had initiated the referendum to give greater representation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders under a proposal put forward by Indigenous elders in 2017.
But polls ahead of the vote had shown widespread opposition to the Voice to Parliament, with Australians concerned it would divide the country by race and many left unclear on how the body would operate.
"It’s not the Australian people’s fault,” Thomas Mayo, a spokesperson for the ‘yes’ campaign, said in an interview on ABC television. "It’s the people that have lied to us, to the Australian people, they are the ones that we should be blaming.”
The referendum’s failure will damage Albanese politically and hurt him personally, with the prime minister having regularly shown emotion while campaigning for the amendment.
"This result tonight is on the prime minister,” said Sussan Ley, deputy leader of the center-right Liberal Party. "I take no joy in it. It’s been divisive. It’s been the wrong approach all along.”
The result adds to the long history of failed referendums in Australia since Federation in 1901, with just eight of now 45 efforts having succeeded.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
