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Australia
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Australia referendum defeat: indigenous leaders say flag to be lowered to half-mast during ‘week of silence’

  • Aboriginal leaders say the referendum defeat was a ‘ bitter irony’ in Australia, where its First Peoples are not yet formally recognised
  • The defeat is attributed to the lack of bipartisan support for a referendum ‘that Australia did not need to have’

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A sign calling for the indigenous “Voice to Parliament” in Sydney. Photo: Bloomberg
Reuters

Australian indigenous leaders called for a week of silence and reflection after a referendum to recognise the First Peoples in the constitution was decisively rejected by a majority of the population.

More than 60 per cent of Australians voted “No” in the landmark referendum on Saturday, the first in almost a quarter of a century, that asked whether to alter the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people through the creation of an Indigenous advisory body, the “Voice to Parliament”.

The outcome is seen as a setback for reconciliation efforts with the country’s indigenous community, and also for Australia’s image in the world regarding how it treats First Nations people.

Unlike other nations with similar histories like Canada and New Zealand, Australia has not yet formally recognised or reached a treaty with its First Peoples.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people make up 3.8 per cent of the 26 million population and have inhabited Australia for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and by most socio-economic measures are the most disadvantaged people in the country.

“This is a bitter irony. That people who have only been on this continent for 235 years would refuse to recognise those whose home this land has been for 60,000 and more years is beyond reason,” the leaders said in a statement that was released on social media platforms.

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