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CANBERRA - Celebrations are being held across Australia today to mark 40 years since the 1967 referendum which gave Aboriginal people the right to be counted in the census.
More than 90 per cent of Australians voted in favour of the changes which also gave the Commonwealth powers to make laws on Indigenous affairs.
Faith Bandler was the public face of the referendum's 'Yes' campaign and hoped the changes would improve living conditions for Aboriginal people.
"The people were as good as buried away on reservations, controlled by one white man," she said.
But 40 years on activist Neville Perkins says the statistics are still grim.
"While there have been some improvements since the 1967 referendum, there is still room for more improvement in the living conditions of Aboriginal Australians and unfortunately under the Howard Government, Aboriginal affairs has gone backward," he said.
"We still have the poorest health rates in Australia."
Activist and artist John Moriarty agrees.
"If you look at it from an international scale it's a disgrace," he said.
He says joining the mainstream economy is the next big step for Indigenous Australians.
Church group Catholic Religious Australia is calling for a new national representative body for Indigenous Australians.
The group's Father Tim Brennan says priests, brothers and nuns have worked in Aboriginal communities for the past 40 years and have seen the joys and tragedies of Indigenous life.
He says the Government's approach to Indigenous affairs is one-dimensional and Aboriginal people need to develop a shared vision for their future.
"I think there needs to be a forum where Aboriginal people can meet, talk with each other and explore their own aspirations and benefit from the wisdom of each other," he said.
"There's no elected forum provided [where we] can learn from each other, let alone white Australia."
Meanwhile the Top End Indigenous leader Galurrwuy Yunupingu says he will not be celebrating today's anniversary.
Mr Yunupingu says there was not much change after the referendum and Aboriginal people would have been better off if they were given self-determination.
"I don't celebrate. Other people do celebrate," he said.
"I would have chosen the other if we were left, left as the Indigenous of Australia and would have been given our own sovereignty."
- RADIO AUSTRALIA
