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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2023 9:27:02 GMT
(Bloomberg) -- Votes were counted on the 14th for a referendum on constitutional amendments to establish the status of Australia's indigenous peoples, and media forecasts predict that the referendum will be rejected.
According to forecasts by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the opposition vote has a clear lead with about 20% of votes counted.
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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2023 20:59:02 GMT
Yes campaigner Thomas Mayo says he believes Australians were ready for the Voice to Parliament referendum, however they were "lied" to by politicians from the No campaign.
Referendum defeated
The Voice to Parliament referendum has been defeated. The ABC projects a majority No vote nationally and in all six states plus the NT.
National vote
5 hours ago
To pass, a national majority of more than 50% of all voters must choose Yes
NATIONAL VOTE
PROJECTION
ABC Projects
National
YES
74.3% counted
NO
39.7%, and 5.17M votes
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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2023 21:53:37 GMT
SYDNEY, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Australia on Saturday decisively rejected a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, in a major setback to the country's efforts for reconciliation with its First Peoples.
Australians had to vote "Yes" or "No" in the referendum, the first in almost a quarter of a century, on the question of 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".
Nationwide, with almost 70% of the vote counted, the "No" vote led "Yes" 60% to 40%. Australian broadcaster ABC and other TV networks have projected that a majority of voters in all six of Australia's states would vote against altering the 122-year-old constitution.
A successful referendum requires at least four of the six to vote in favour, along with a national majority.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged it was not the outcome he had hoped for but said the country would have to seek a new way forward for reconciliation.
"Our nation's road to reconciliation has often been hard going," Albanese said in a televised news conference.
"Tonight is not the end of the road and is certainly not the end of our efforts to bring people together."
Academics and human rights advocates fear the win by the "No" camp could set back reconciliation efforts by years.
The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2023 7:00:48 GMT
[Sydney Kyodo] In a referendum held in Australia, a constitutional amendment bill that would have made it easier to reflect the opinions of indigenous peoples in parliament was rejected by a wide margin. Indigenous people who support the constitutional amendment called it ''appalling and malicious.'' ''A tsunami of racism has washed over us,'' he said. An open letter addressed to Prime Minister Albanese was distributed to the media on the 22nd.
The letter lamented, ''People who arrived just 235 years ago on this sacred land that we have cherished for more than 65,000 years have refused to recognize indigenous peoples (in the constitution).''
The reason why support for constitutional amendment, which was around 60% until the beginning of this year, has plummeted is that the opposition Liberal Party and the National Party have come out with opposing policies and the spread of false information.
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