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Background information
On July 29, 2022, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, released a draft new provision to be included in the Australian Constitution which would allow for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The Prime Minister is suggesting that the Constitution would be changed to include the following three-part provision.
1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice
2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
3. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers, and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Any change to the Australian Constitution must be approved by a referendum. A referendum is a vote that allows the Australian electorate to either approve or reject a proposed constitutional change. To be passed, a referendum proposal needs to win both an overall majority of votes as well as majorities in a majority of states. This is a very high level of approval to attempt to gain.
Since Federation in 1901, there have been 44 proposals for constitutional change put in 19 referendums with only eight changes passing.
The draft referendum proposal that the Prime Minister has released states, 'Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?'
Those who support an Indigenous Voice to Parliament argue:
1. Australia has a long history of inadequate provision for Indigenous Australians who continue to have dramatically poorer living conditions than non-Indigenous Australians. The Prime Minister has highlighted 'the gap that is there between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in life expectancy, in health outcomes, in education, in housing, in infant mortality.'
2. Indigenous Australians form a small percentage of the Australian population, and their interests can be easily overlooked. In the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 3.2 percent of the population. This is 812,000 people.
3. As the first and traditional owners of Australia with whom no official treaty has ever been made, Indigenous Australians have a special claim to be recognised and heard within Australia's Parliament.
4. Australia's Constitution currently makes no reference to Indigenous Australians.
Those who oppose an Indigenous Voice to Parliament argue:
1. An Indigenous Voice to Parliament is not necessary - Australia's current system of representative, parliamentary democracy (referred to as the Westminster system from the British model on which it is based) ensures that the interests of all citiizens are protected.
2. The Voice could set up a parallel system which would distort the operation of Australia's democracy.
3. Some Indigenous advocates and others argue that the Voice is a purely symbolic gesture which would do nothing to improve living conditions for Indigenous Australians.
4. Debating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will create race-based divisions among Australian people.