Suchergebnisse

Last weekend saw tens of thousands of Australians rally in support of a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. The Voice would be a representative body comprised of Indigenous Australians empowered to make representations to Parliament and the federal government on matters that relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Its animating objective is to guarantee that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can have a say in the development of law and policy that affects them. The Voice is not a silver bullet. But if the referendum fails, basic problems concerning the relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the State will remain unaddressed. Indigenous Australians will also continue to struggle to have their interests considered in the processes of governance.

Although there has recently been a fundamental change in public debates concerning the discrimination of Aborigines, the position of native inhabitants of Australia as the weakest link in Australian society remains unaltered. As a result the gap between the indigenous and the non-indigenous populations have grown to such an extent that unemployment, criminality and bad health care have turned many aboriginal communities into isolated "fourth world" areas. The traumatic experiences these people have endured especially as a result of the policies from the "Stolen Generation" era caused many families to be dysfunctional thus resonating negatively down the generations and creating a vicious circle of social problems. The political efforts to improve the living conditions of the Aborigines have often shown a lack of empathy, understanding and effectiveness. This has been especially exacerbated by the practise of excluding the native Australians from the decision-making process for policies which concern them instead of involving them in it. (Asien/GIGA)

Australia's Constitution remains frozen, with the loss of a referendum on 14 October 2023. Only eight out of forty-five national referendums to amend the Constitution have succeeded, with no successful change since 1977. The 2023 referendum would have recognised Indigenous Australians in the national Constitution and provided a means, described as a 'Voice', for them to make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In this post, I will seek to give an overview of the reasons for the failure of the referendum, including the 'No' arguments, factors that contributed to the 'No' vote, and the demographics of the voting outcome.