The fiercely fought campaign over the Voice - a landmark referendum in Australia on whether to have a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice advising Parliament on indigenous issues - is on its final stretch before Voting Day on October 14.
Video / Te Ao Maori News
Advocates for constitutional change in Australia said they were devastated on Saturday by the defeat of a referendum that would have created an advocacy committee to offer advice to Parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people — the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.
Early counting showed that 57 per cent of voters opposed the Indigenous Voice.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation projections found New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia had rejected the amendment.
The Voice needed majorities in each of at least four of the six states as well as a national majority for the referendum to pass.
Opinion polls in recent months indicated a strong majority of Australians opposed the proposal. Earlier in the year, a majority had supported it, before the “no” campaign gathered intensity. Voice advocates had hoped that listening to Indigenous views would lead to more effective delivery of government services and better outcomes for Indigenous lives.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shows his support for a yes vote during a visit to Adelaide. Photo / AP
Accounting for only 3.8% of the population, Indigenous Australians die on average eight years younger than the wider population, have a suicide rate twice that of the national average and suffer from diseases in the remote Outback that have been eradicated from other wealthy countries.
The Voice would have been the first referendum passed since 1977 and the first ever to pass without the bipartisan support of the major political parties.
