Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined a draft referendum question in a bid to replace Saturday Constitution To establish a representative indigenous body in the Parliament.
AustraliaThe U.S. constitution does not currently recognize indigenous peoples, and moves to include a so-called “voice”—an advisory body to advise the government on decisions affecting marginalized groups—would be a nationwide requirement in the document. Referendum.
Center-left leader speaking at an indigenous festival in Arnhem Land – home to the majority of the indigenous population Albanese proposed a draft referendum question to the Australian public: “Do you support changes to the constitution that establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice?”
Albanese, elected in May, promised to hold a referendum before the end of his term in 2025.
It is unclear how the referendum will take shape, but the proposal for the draft question to Aboriginal Australian leaders and the public will be a first step.
He also recommended an “Uluru Statement from the Heart” on Saturday, which called for better rights and constitutional recognition for Australia’s First Nations people.
The 2017 statement was rejected by the then Prime Minister Malcolm TurnbullConservative government.
But Albanese said Uluru’s statement is about “consulting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on decisions that affect you, nothing more, but nothing less”.
“It’s simple etiquette. It’s common decency,” he said.
“It recognizes the failure of centuries… a failure to ask the most basic human question: How would I feel if this were done to me?”
Australia has long failed to close the gap between the health and well-being of its First Nations people and the rest of the population, with rising incarceration rates among Indigenous peoples and life expectancies nearly eight years below the national average.
AustraliaThe U.S. constitution does not currently recognize indigenous peoples, and moves to include a so-called “voice”—an advisory body to advise the government on decisions affecting marginalized groups—would be a nationwide requirement in the document. Referendum.
Center-left leader speaking at an indigenous festival in Arnhem Land – home to the majority of the indigenous population Albanese proposed a draft referendum question to the Australian public: “Do you support changes to the constitution that establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice?”
Albanese, elected in May, promised to hold a referendum before the end of his term in 2025.
It is unclear how the referendum will take shape, but the proposal for the draft question to Aboriginal Australian leaders and the public will be a first step.
He also recommended an “Uluru Statement from the Heart” on Saturday, which called for better rights and constitutional recognition for Australia’s First Nations people.
The 2017 statement was rejected by the then Prime Minister Malcolm TurnbullConservative government.
But Albanese said Uluru’s statement is about “consulting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on decisions that affect you, nothing more, but nothing less”.
“It’s simple etiquette. It’s common decency,” he said.
“It recognizes the failure of centuries… a failure to ask the most basic human question: How would I feel if this were done to me?”
Australia has long failed to close the gap between the health and well-being of its First Nations people and the rest of the population, with rising incarceration rates among Indigenous peoples and life expectancies nearly eight years below the national average.