The referendum to be held between two and six months
Canberra, June 19: In what is being hailed as a historic event in the nation’s history, Australia’s Senate voted on 19 June to hold a referendum this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, with a view to giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority an effective voice on government policy, reports AP news.
The Senate passed the bill 52 votes to 19, without any change to the wording of the constitutional change, which will now be put to the Australian people, reports The Guardian. The lower house passed the draft legislation last month.
The public galleries saw dozens of mainly Indigenous people, including Tom Calma, Megan Davis and Pat Anderson welcoming the passage of the bill with a standing ovation, say media reports.
Addressing a press conference on the historic event, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “I say to my fellow Australians: parliaments pass laws, but it is people that make history. “This is your time, your chance, your opportunity to be a part of making history,” reports the Guardian.
In a committed move, the Senate sat from June 16 morning until 4am on June 17 in a bid to let comprehensive discussions be held on the bill through speeches and debate, say media reports. Significantly, the government rejected any amendments to its proposed wording, suggest media reports.
Now that the bill has been passed by the Federal Parliament, the referendum must be held in a period between two and six months.
About the passage of the bill, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said to reporters, “Today the political debate ends. Today we can start a national conversation at the community level about what a Voice is, why it’s needed and how it will make a practical difference.”
If the referendum is passed, it would be Australia’s first successful referendum since 1977 without bipartisan support, say media reports.
Speaking to the Senate before the vote, one of the opposition spokespersons, Michaelia Cash said that most of her colleagues would vote to hold the referendum. “This is not because we agree with what this bill ultimately sets out to achieve, which is of course to irrevocably change this nation’s constitution in a way that will destroy one of our most fundamental values: equality of citizenship,” Cash told the Senate, reports the media.
About the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the fact that some critics argued the Voice was too weak and others that it was too powerful indicated “we’ve got the balance right,” reports the media.
According to the law, the voice referendum must now be held between two and six months. Committees of politicians who voted yes and no in the parliament will be given 28 days to put together persuasive essays that will be sent to all Australians in an official referendum pamphlet, say media reports.