A defaced Vote Yes sign is seen in Bassendean during The Voice referendum in Perth, on Oct. 14.STRINGER/Reuters
Australians have overwhelmingly voted “No” in a referendum on a constitutional amendment to recognize First Nations people and establish a non-binding advisory body to represent them in Parliament.
Saturday’s vote on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament followed months-long, often bitter campaign that some fear has left the the First Nations people in Australia worse off than they were before. The measure needed a national majority and majorities in at least four of six states in order to pass, but it won none. About 61 per cent of all voters chose No.
A key priority of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the “Yes” campaign had been backed by the ruling Labor party, celebrities, faith groups and big business, including flag carrier Qantas Airways, which decked out three of its planes in pro-Voice livery. But supporters of the change failed to make a convincing case, with many Australians telling pollsters and journalists they remained confused about the scope of the proposed body or its powers even days before the vote.
In a final appeal to voters Saturday, Mr. Albanese said “recognizing Indigenous Australians as the original inhabitants of this continent” would be the outcome for a Yes vote.
“Yes means listening to them on matters that affect them so we get better outcomes,” he said. “Yes will enhance our democracy.”
Indigenous people in Australia have a life expectancy on average 10 years shorter than the rest of the population, and face far higher rates of incarceration, suicide and child mortality. Since 2009, the Australian government has released annual Closing the Gap reports to track the inequities, but little progress has been made, with some metrics even going backward.
Mr. Albanese said consecutive administrations had failed on this issue, because “rather than listening to the people who could guide them towards the best results, governments of all persuasions have wasted billions in a muddle of good intentions that haven’t gotten results.”
That the Voice would have created a purely advisory body with scant power – while carrying significant moral weight for Indigenous people who have been marginalized for centuries – was often lost in a campaign plagued by disinformation and ugly, frequently racist rhetoric about Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who make up just under 4 per cent of Australia’s population.
The Opposition Liberal-National coalition, which has backed Indigenous reconciliation efforts and even a version of the Voice in the past, threw its weight behind the No campaign, in what many saw as a cynical effort by Liberal Leader Peter Dutton to damage Mr. Albanese. For his part, Mr. Dutton claimed the Voice would “re-racialize our nation” and “permanently divide us by race.”
Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle said Saturday that voters “did not say no to reconciliation, they did not say no to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians.”
She told the ABC that “this was about a flawed process, a process that didn’t consider that the Australian constitution is a representation of all Australians equally, and there should have been a conversation with the Australian public before putting such a divisive, unknown and permanent revision to a referendum.”
Lidia Thorpe, an independent senator and leader of the “progressive” No campaign, said Saturday that Australians never should have been voting on the fate of Indigenous people like herself. She had opposed the Voice on the grounds that it did not go far enough, and said she would always take “better representation rather than some advisory body with no teeth.”
Ms. Thorpe told the ABC that “you don’t need a referendum for a treaty and you don’t need a referendum for extra seats in Parliament,” as she urged the government to legislate on both issues.
But few expect that to happen, and some allies of Ms. Thorpe – including her sister, Meriki Onus – broke with her in the final weeks, arguing that while the Voice did not go far enough, a victory for the No campaign could set progress for Indigenous people back years.
The scale of that victory was becoming clear as the final votes were counted Saturday night: Majorities in every state and territory – except the Australian Capital Territory, the 455,000 person enclave which surrounds Canberra – voted No.
“I know this outcome will be hard for some, but achieving progress is never easy and progress doesn’t always move in a straight line, there are breakthroughs and heart breaks,” Mr. Albanese told reporters.
Thomas Mayo, one of the signatories of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a document drafted by Indigenous groups that initially proposed the Voice, blamed its defeat on a “disgusting No campaign, a campaign that has been dishonest and lied to the Australian people.”
He added: “We’re going to take stock now, Indigenous people, Indigenous leaders, we’re never going to stop fighting for our place, our voice in this country.”
One silver lining that Yes campaigners say they have seen in the frequently ugly debate of the past year is that many non-Indigenous Australians have been forced to face up to the inequities First Nations people deal with on a daily basis. This might fundamentally change how the country thinks about the communities they often seem to want to ignore.
“The optimist in me says that there are millions of Australians who have had a fire lit inside them,” said Kishaya Delaney, a Wiradjuri lawyer and Yes campaigner. “I’ve had people ask me: ‘Win or lose, how do we carry this on?’”