Australia (Common wealth ) _ The Australian Senate approved on Monday to hold a referendum this year on the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an advocacy attempting to give the country’s most disadvantaged ethnic community more input over government policies.
When senators passed the referendum bill by a vote of 52 to 19, dozens of people, mostly indigenous people, stood up and celebrated. The Senate vote mandates that the referendum be held on a Saturday within a two-to-six-month period.
Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman to hold the position of Minister for Indigenous Australians, described the Senate vote as the “final hurdle” in the referendum. “The political argument is over today. Today, we can begin a national conversation at the local level about what a Voice is, why it is required, and how it will make a tangible difference,” Burney told reporters.
While the Voice would advocate for Indigenous concerns, it would not have a vote on laws, and debate between supporters and opponents of the elected body has gotten increasingly passionate and controversial.
Proponents of the Voice expect that it will improve living conditions for Indigenous Australians, who make up 3.2% of Australia’s population and are the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.
If the referendum passes, it will be Australia’s first successful referendum since 1977, as well as the first to succeed without bipartisan backing.
Michaelia Cash, an opposition spokesman, told the Senate that the majority of her colleagues will vote to conduct the referendum “because we believe in the people of this nation and their right to have a say.”
Indigenous Opposition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the Voice idea was already dividing Australia along racial lines.
“If the ‘yes’ vote is successful, we will be divided forever,” stated Price “I want to see Australia progress as one, not as two divided.” That is why I intend to vote ‘no,'” Price stated.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who promised the referendum during his election night victory speech, said the fact that some detractors thought the Voice was too weak and others that it was too powerful showed that “we’ve got the balance right.”
A group of 250 Indigenous leaders met at Uluru, a renowned sandstone rock in central Australia that is sacred to traditional owners, in 2017 and suggested The Voice. They were delegates to the First Nations National Constitutional Convention, which had been convened by the then-government to advice on how the Indigenous population may be recognized in the constitution.
