Australia House to hold referendum on indigenous voice

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday for a referendum to be held this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, aiming to give the country's most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.

While the Voice would advocate for indigenous interests, it would not have a vote on laws, and debate for and against the elected body has become increasingly heated and divisive.

The 121-25 House vote that approved the call for referendum does not reflect the level of lawmakers' support for enshrining the Voice in the constitution.

The opposition conservative Liberal Party voted in support of giving Australians a choice at a referendum, but is also campaigning for the Voice to be rejected by the public.

The Senate will vote on the bill this month. The bill needs majority support to ensure that Australia's first referendum since 1999 takes place between October and December. A majority of senators have already flagged their support.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, the first indigenous woman to hold the role, said the campaigning would begin in earnest with a successful Senate vote. She had "no doubt" the referendum would succeed.

"A yes vote at a referendum... will move Australia forward for everyone," Burney said. "It will be a new chapter in our country's story."

Proponents hope the Voice will improve living standards for indigenous Australians, who account for 3.2 percent of the population and are the most disadvantaged ethnic group in the country.

Speaking in support of the Voice, Minister Tim Watts urged his fellow lawmakers to address Australia's history of refusing to recognize or listen to its indigenous people.

Cautionary example

Watts quoted his own ancestor as a cautionary example: John Watts, a 19th century colonial lawmaker, had justified state-condoned extra-judicial police shootings of indigenous Outback tribes.

"The natives must be taught to feel the mastery of the whites," John Watts told the Queensland state Parliament in 1861.

"The natives, knowing no law, nor entertaining any fears but those of the carbine (rifle): there were no other means of ruling them."

His descendant, Tim Watts, urged lawmakers in Parliament to "take this moment to be good ancestors".

Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan has warned that focusing the public debate on race emboldens racists and exposes the indigenous population to abuse and vilification.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who committed his center-left Labor Party government on election night last year to holding the referendum, said "scare campaigns" against the Voice would not find traction among most Australians.

"Australians won't succumb to their appeals to fear and their evermore ludicrous invitations to jump at our own shadows," he said in a recent speech.

Agencies Via Xinhua