Sydney, Mar. 23, (dpa/GNA) - Voters in Australia will decide whether to alter the country’s constitution to recognise its Indigenous peoples this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday.
The referendum will seek support to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice within parliament.
“This is a simple question, a matter from the heart,” Albanese told a press conference as he announced the wording of the referendum question.
Establishing the body was “the best chance” Australia had to address the injustices of the past, he said.
For 122 years the country’s founding document had failed to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, and their more than 65,000 years of continuous connection to the land.
“This referendum is an historic democratic opportunity for a unifying Australian moment,” Albanese said.
“Every Australian will have the chance to vote for recognition and consultation. Recognition of the extraordinary privilege we have to share this continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture and stronger consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, meaning better decisions and better results as we work to close the gap.”
The referendum is expected to be held between October and December.
It was not until May 1967 that Australians voted to change the Constitution so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be counted as part of the population.
GNA