Editor TLN
Dec. 29 () –
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a referendum to update the Constitution and include more representation in Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens, Australia’s Aboriginal communities, by December next year.
“When Woodford (festival) takes place next year, the referendum on Voice to Parliament will have been held. This is an opportunity for all of us to be a part of enriching our nation and making it even stronger in the future,” announced the Australian leader during a speech at the Woodford Folk festival in the Australian state of Queensland.
For Albanese, this unprecedented event will give a voice to Aboriginal communities and improve “the way Australians see ourselves, as well as the way the world sees us.”
The Executive has issued several reports on how the future representation of indigenous people in Parliament would work but has not specified all the functions or regulations before it is voted in a referendum by Australian citizens, according to Abc News.
“The people will vote on the principle that indigenous peoples are guaranteed a fairer participation in the laws and policies that affect them, and Parliament will legislate the details,” Australian Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney said during the same intervention.
These statements come a week after Andrew Gee, a deputy from The Nationals for Regional Australia party, left the party for refusing to support said referendum, as mentioned by the aforementioned media.
THE AUSTRALIAN EFFORT TO INCLUDE ABORIGINAL VOICES
In May 2017, more than 250 indigenous community leaders from across Australia gathered in the Uluru desert region to launch a declaration calling for the establishment of indigenous peoples representation in the Australian Constitution.
Thus, Anthony Albanese initially committed to holding said referendum already in his first words as prime minister during his speech after the electoral victory in May 2022.
“We should consider asking our fellow Australians something as simple as: ‘Do you support a constitutional amendment establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?'” Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney said days later. , according to the aforementioned medium.
To this day, the aboriginal question continues to be one of the burning issues in Australia, where indigenous communities do not share many of the norms contained in the Australian Constitution and therefore call for greater participation in government bodies.
For their part, the opposition remains skeptical of these demands and continues to ask the government for more information on the extent to which Australian laws and policies could be influenced.
