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.

  • WaxedWookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Would you mind clarifying what you mean? There’s a few ways to interpret this.

    If you mean that it’s not a perfect representation of the views of the indigenous community, that’s obviously true, but unavoidable in any representative body. What it does is solicit feedback from the community and effectively pushes that forward as a single, strong voice. This works in the same way that a union brings together workers that are powerless as individuals and small groups, into a single, far more powerful, though not perfectly representative body that’s able to campaign for meaningful positive change for all members.

    Sounds swell to me.

    • WhirlybirdEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      What it does is solicit feedback from the community and effectively pushes that forward as a single, strong voice.

      There are hundreds of indigienous mobs around Australia. They do not all agree. They do not all get a long. Having a single voice wouldn’t work. It’s not like workers for a company unionizing at all. There are still disagreements among indigenous groups over land ownership and who was the rightful original owner etc.