To be shocked that Australia voted NO on this referendum?

[koalaknickers]

"The Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a 2017 document crafted by Indigenous leaders that set out a roadmap for reconciliation with wider Australia.

Australia's Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8% of the country's 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country."

Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation (msn.com)

I have family out there. I just assumed that they would have voted YES. I hope they did. Perhaps I should ask them.

I saw that and I think it was a travesty holding a referendum like that if it didn’t have popular support. Imagine being an aboriginal waking up in Australia after that result. It is horrible. I live in Ireland and if we had a referendum on traveller’s rights we might get the same outcome for example and further alienate an already massively alienated section of our population.

This sort of thing needs to be done in the legislature not by popular vote.

It does seem weird that they would vote no. Is there more to it, was there something in the wording of it that people didn't like, did it not go far enough? Is there a hope it will be redone with different wording? Tbh I have no clue just trying to figure out why people would not support it

This sort of thing needs to be done in the legislature not by popular vote.

Yes, I agree.

It’s completely awful and baffling. I can only assume that people voted ‘no’ because it’s a compulsory vote and they didn’t understand it so opted for the status quo. That’s my most depressingly optimistic take.

Sadly, I'm not shocked but I am deeply disappointed.

Apparently it was very thin on detail so no one really knew what it would entail. Note that some indigenous leaders also voted no.

I’m in Aus. I’m not a citizen so I’m unable to vote. I would have voted yes. However, many people did not know what a “yes” vote would look like, what it’d entail. So without being informed, there was so much “if you don’t know, vote no” going on.

The whole thing could have been managed and handled SO much better. From all sides. It’s created division, not unity.

Totally agree, in Ireland it was the government that decided to recognise Travellers as an ethnic minority that had to be protected, no way would that have got through a referendum

A member of my family has some very close indigenous friends.

He was working somewhere and tried to get one of the young adults a job there and was told in no uncertain terms "no way, I'm not employing a *". I won't type in full the term used.

It is absolutely shocking the way they have been treated in their own country. I can't believe in 2023 the Australians voted NO to them having a say.

There were many criticisms of the proposals. Including: they allowed one group access to the legislative process that no other group has; they distract from the real problems facing aboriginal people and give power to a metropolitan elite; they were very non-specific, with no indication of how the Voice would be appointed and how it would work.

I too was very surprised. From the little I have read it wasn’t giving the indigenous people any particular power, just recognition.

It is heartbreaking. I’m in a Melbourne suburb that voted Yes and don’t know anyone that voted/or will admit to voting No. It’s a brutal result and a win for misinformation and blatant lies that fueled division and fear. From an invitation to the nation to walk together to recognise our First Nations people and give a Voice to where we are now.

Agreed.

Referenda are massively divisive (as we’ve seen twice in the UK). This should have been done by democratically elected legislators, not put to this kind of vote.

I don’t find this shocking, after all the word P*ki is very popular, not just people in everyday life, but its commonly used on TV to describe us.

There should not have been a vote, the right thing to do was to include automatically.

I'm not overly surprised, Australia is actually quite a racist country.

The Australian population are pretty racist overall. More so than the UK

I think they had to hold a referendum because they wanted to change the constitution.

This is why complex issues like this (and Brexit) should not be decided by a referendum. Voters are lazy, people could easily have found or sought answers to all those issues you set out before the vote but it is just easier to vote no. Pretty pathetic excuse tbh. Sounds like a massive fail by the Yes camp.

Wow. I'm so sorry you have to hear that word anywhere, let alone on TV!

and pretty misogynistic as well.

Sadly I think the result speaks very loudly to the issue the proposal was intended to address. (Saying that as someone who spent time in Australia and saw and heard the most appalling attitude to Aboriginal people, as expressed by numerous 'respectable' white Aussies).

Australians are surprisingly racist - well, it was a surprise to me anyway. I had this vision of them all being easy going and laid back and then I went there and it was a bit of a shock to find most of them are very conservative, racist, and homophobic. The misogyny I did expect but was disappointing to have it confirmed.

Once again people spouting their opinions on something they know nothing about. I'm not saying I do either but sure it's more nuanced than people on here think. There is a real problem in the western world atm with democracy and those in charge not listening to the majority which is why we're in a complete mess so the more referendums the better (see Switzerland which has many referendums and is the best run, happiest country in Europe).

Was watching HIGNFY just last week and they showed a clip of an Australian broadcast with the story of twins. One girl was black, the other little girl was white

The broadcaster described the black twin as having brown eyes and curly hair and said nothing else about her. The other twin was described as having inherited her father's (I think it was) pale skin, blue eyes, etc and the broadcaster said "good on ya!" as if she had won some kind of jackpot and come out on top.

Unbelievable!

Yes, constitutional change requires a referendum.

I don't think labelling all no voters as racist is particularly accurate or helpful.