Australian indigenous leaders called this Sunday (15) for a week of silence and reflection after a referendum to recognize indigenous peoples in the country’s Constitution was categorically rejected.
More than 60% of Australians voted “no” in Saturday’s historic referendum asking whether the Constitution should be amended to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with an indigenous advisory body, the “Voice to Parliament”. , who would have advised parliament on matters relating to the community.
Australia’s first referendum in almost 25 years needed a national majority and at least four states to pass. All six states rejected the proposal.
“This is a cruel irony,” the indigenous leaders said in a statement. “That people who have been on this continent for 235 years refuse to recognize those who have lived on the earth for 60,000 years or more is beyond reason.”
They said they would lower the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag to half-mast throughout the week and called on others to do the same.
The result is a major setback for reconciliation efforts with the country’s indigenous community and damages Australia’s image in the world in terms of the way it treats indigenous peoples.
Unlike other nations with similar histories, such as Canada and New Zealand, Australia has not formally recognized or reached a treaty with the country’s original peoples.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 3.8% of Australia’s 26 million people and have inhabited the country for around 60,000 years. However, they are not mentioned in the Constitution and are the most disadvantaged people in the country in socioeconomic measures.
“It’s very clear that reconciliation is dead,” Voice architect Marcia Langton told NITV (“National Indigenous Television”). “I believe it will take at least two generations before Australians are able to leave behind their colonial hatreds and recognize that we exist.”
A Reconciliation Australiaan Indigenous foundation, said the community was left to deal with the “acts of racism and misinformation” that they said were a feature of the debate.
Indigenous Australian leader and former national rugby union player Lloyd Walker said the path to reconciliation appears difficult now, but the community needs to keep fighting.
“We can say that we were defeated in the vote, but there were still 40% of people who wanted it. Years and years ago we wouldn’t have had that percentage, that’s for sure,” Walker said.
Strong reflection
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese staked significant political capital on the referendum, but critics say it was his biggest mistake since taking power in May last year.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said it was a referendum “that Australia did not need to have” and that it only ended up dividing the nation.
One of the biggest reasons for the defeat was the lack of bipartisan support, with leaders of the main conservative parties campaigning for a “no” vote.
No referendum has been passed in Australia without bipartisan support.
“Many will be asked about the role of racism and prejudice against indigenous peoples in this outcome,” the leaders said in the statement. “The only thing we ask is that every Australian who voted in this election gives serious thought to this issue.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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