Voice to parliament referendum fails in defeat that Indigenous advocates will see as a blow to progress towards reconciliation

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

  • mwguy@infosec.pubEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Is there currently an Australian equivalent to the BIA? If not, is a Constitutional Amendment required to establish one or can one be established by legislation?

    • Peddlephile@lemm.eeEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      Wow. I just looked at the front page and that's actually amazing.

      Short answer - no. Australia does not have such a thing, especially with that much support. We have some indigenous people in government but they represent their seat, not specifically indigenous affairs. There is currently no body that represents indigenous affairs as a whole.

      It can be established by the government of the day, which it was back when Kevin Rudd was our PM (Labor Party). However, this body was then abolished by the next government, run by Tony Abbott and others since (Coalition).

      Now, we have Labor in power again and this referendum was called to have a voice enshrined in our constitution so that it couldn't be abolished by future governments. Since we nationally voted no, our current Labor government can establish something like the BIA, however there is a high risk that this will be yet again abolished like last time.

      • mwguy@infosec.pubEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Hmm, maybe it's because in our western states Indian tribes are a larger percentage of the population, or maybe it's because our mistreatment of the various tribes has led to countless wars and atrocities; but I couldn't imagine a scenario where one party established this branch and another removes it. But I'm not from Australia.

        • Peddlephile@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          This is where the US is waves ahead of Australia. The indigenous population is small now (2%) but hasn't always been, and we put them (and still do) through many, many atrocities… If you're at all interested, check out indigenous deaths in custody. There's also the constant destruction of their traditional heritage (birthing trees, rock art etc.). The stereotype here for an Aboriginal is that they're drunkards and drug users. This is not reality but a huge majority think this.

          As a country, we have deep seated institutionalised racism that has taken root and flourished over the last few decades. We have this national way of thinking where the indigenous population needs to comply to our laws, our way of life. If an indigenous family wants traditional education, nah - go to one of the 'normal' schools. Want to learn an indigenous language? Nah, learn German or French or Japanese.

          We also have severe tall poppy syndrome where we can't let anyone have it better than anyone else. Our Australia Day is also a huge issue since it's on the day of the first colonists landing.

          All in all, we don't have an equivalent because we have a rotten attitude to our first nations.