Australia reveals wording for historic constitutional referendum on Indigenous rights

Fighting back tears, an emotional prime minister Anthony Albanese asks: ‘If not now, when?’

Anthony Albanese with members of the First Nations Referendum Working Group on Thursday (via REUTERS)

Australia’s prime minister fought back tears on Thursday as he released details of a referendum to recognise indigenous people in the country’s constitution.

An emotional Anthony Albanese revealed the proposed question Australians will be asked later this year on a constitutional amendment that would enshrine a new body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The Voice would be an elected group charged with advocating Indigenous interests, but would not have a vote on laws. “We urgently need better outcomes because it’s not good enough where we’re at in 2023,” he said, describing the change as long overdue.

“For many... this moment has been a very long time in the making. One person, one vote. People from all faiths, backgrounds… all of us will have equal say.

“If not now, when?"

He said indigenous leaders had”shown such patience and optimism through this process, and that spirit of cooperation and thoughtful, respectful dialogue has been so important at arriving at this point in such a united fashion.”

Australia is looking to offer further recognition to its Indigenous people, who have inhabited the continent for 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the 122-year-old constitution.

Aboriginal people, constituting about 3.2 per cent of the country’s nearly 26 million population, rank low on national averages concerning most socio-economic measures and also suffer disproportionately high rates of suicide and imprisonment.

Marginalised during the doctrine of terra nullius [nobody’s land] in the British colonial rule, Aboriginal people were barred from voting rights until the 1960s.

The Albanese administration is set to introduce the bill next week, hoping to pass it in the parliament by the end of June.

Changing Australia's constitution has never been easy. Of the 44 referendums held since 1901, only eight have been carried – and none since 1977.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has asked the government on how the consultative panel will work and sought more details, adding that the officials have not responded to his queries.

"We will decide in due course whether we support the Voice or oppose it," Mr Dutton told reporters.