Australia rejects historic referendum to recognise Indigenous people in constitution

Advocates for constitutional change have conceded defeat in the referendum

Australia on Saturday was set to overwhelmingly reject a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, in a major setback to the country’s efforts for reconciliation with its first peoples.

The referendum decides whether to tackle the disadvantages faced by Indigenous people in the country by enshrining a new advocacy committee in the constitution.

Australians are required to vote either “Yes” or “No” to whether they agree to alter the country’s 122-year-old constitution to create an Indigenous body called the Voice to Parliament which would provide advice to the government on Indigenous issues.

In all but one state, polling closed on Saturday with the “No” vote dominating early counting.

An early vote count suggests the states of New South Wales and Tasmania would reject the change of the constitution.

This means creating the Indigenous body would need majorities in each of the four remaining states as well as a national majority.

Advocates for the constitutional change have already conceded defeat in the referendum to create Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Associated Press reported.

Indigenous Australians, who make up around 3.8 per cent of the country’s population, constitute the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.

Reports have shown that they die eight years younger on average than the wider population, and suffer from diseases that have been eradicated from many wealthy countries.

A majority supported the Voice earlier this year, but the “No” campaign gathered momentum over time.

Of the nearly 18 million people enrolled to vote in the referendum, around six million have cast their ballots in early voting over the last three weeks.

The “Yes” camp winning a majority would make life better for Indigenous people, Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said.

“‘No’ takes us nowhere – we are living in ‘no’ right now,” said Mr Albanese.

“Kindness costs nothing,” he said in a speech on Friday.

While many Indigenous people favour the change, some fear it could be a distraction from achieving practical outcomes.

Major conservative parties are also campaigning for a “No” vote, saying the measure is divisive and would be ineffective.

Polls closed in Queensland at 8am GMT (6pm local time) and is expected to close in Western Australia two hours later due to the region being in a different time zone.

Opinion polls conducted in the months leading to the referendum suggest a strong majority of Australians oppose the proposal.

Early counting of about 11 per cent of the votes found that the “No” campaign led “Yes” by 55.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent.

The result of the polls is expected to be known late Saturday, unless the vote is close.