Australia decides referendum question to create Black Voice
The Hindu
The Australian Government on March 23 released the wording of a referendum question that promises the nation’s Indigenous population a greater say on policies that effect their lives
The Australian Government on March 23 released the wording of a referendum question that promises the nation's Indigenous population a greater say on policies that effect their lives.
Australians will vote sometime between October and December on the referendum that would enshrine in the constitution an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
An emotional Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said such a body promoting Indigenous views to the government and Parliament was needed to overcome Indigenous disadvantage.
“We urgently need better outcomes because it's not good enough where we're at in 2023,” Mr. Albanese told reporters.
Indigenous Australians from the Torres Strait archipelago off the northeast coast are culturally distinct from the mainland Aboriginal population. The two peoples account for 3.2% of the Australian population and are the nation's most disadvantaged ethnic group.
“On every measure, there is a gap between the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the national average,” Mr. Albanese said.
“A 10-year gap in life expectancy, a suicide rate twice as high, tragic levels of child mortality and disease, a massive overrepresentation in the prison population and deaths in custody, in children sent to out-of-home care,” he said.