Before the referendum that is to hold later this year, thousands of people have participated in protests across Australia in favor of a campaign to include the country’s Indigenous people in the constitution.
The Yes23 campaign group organized the rallies on Sunday in response to a recent decline in support for the constitutional amendment guaranteeing rights to Indigenous Australians.
Between October and December of this year, a referendum on the proposal will be held, with the goal of giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a direct say in the policies that affect them. The proposal would create an advisory body called the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Although the opposition parties have been opposing the proposal, the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in favor of it.
The Labor Party of Albanese promised to support an Indigenous voice in parliament during the general election campaign in May of last year.
The rally attendees in Sydney wore T-shirts with “vote yes” messages and hats with “the Uluru statement,” a crucial document that calls for an Indigenous Voice.
In Sydney, there were about 3,000 people in attendance, and up to 25,000 people were anticipated overall, according to data provided to Reuters by the Yes23 group.
According to Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin, “these community events are opportunities for people to come together and gain useful information about the importance of a successful referendum later this year.”.
The “day of action” comes after a poll taken last month, which revealed that 51 percent of respondents said “No” to the proposal for the first time, suggested that support for the referendum was waning.
The Yes23 group claimed that the drop in polls did not accurately reflect the situation on the ground.
“You may not always see it on television. There are discussions taking place at kitchen tables, in sporting clubs, and in workplaces all over the nation, but you won’t read about them in the newspapers. That will continue to spread and expand. “On ABC television on Sunday, co-chair of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition Rachel Perkins said.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Fred Pascoe, director of the Gulf Regional Economic Aboriginal Trust, claimed that Indigenous people, who make up about 3 percent of Australia’s population of almost 26 million and who did not receive full voting rights until the 1960s, are not even mentioned in the constitution of the nation.
Australia’s Indigenous population is not acknowledged in the nation’s constitution, which went into effect in January 1901.
On the other hand, the plan’s critics claim that it is vague and will cause conflict among Australians.
The group has insisted that the government should concentrate on preventing domestic violence, improving the health and safety of these Indigenous communities, and promoting education.
In Australia, it is challenging to change the constitution, experts say.
In order for the referendum to pass, the government must receive a two-thirds majority of votes, which equates to 50% of the total votes cast.
Only eight of the 44 constitutional amendment proposals that were put forth in the previous 19 referendums were approved.
It is significant to note that a referendum on Indigenous rights in 1967 received a record number of “Yes” votes.
More than 400 Indigenous people have passed away in police custody over the past three decades.
Many people have passed away under suspicious circumstances, some as a result of negligence or a lack of medical care, despite the conclusions and recommendations of a national inquiry in 1991. Unexpectedly, no one has ever been found guilty of these deaths.
Indigenous Australians have fought for recognition for many generations. Since European colonization, which had a terrible effect on Aboriginal communities and cultures, the population has suffered.
In the name of protecting families, integrating them into society, and advancing civilization, the native Australians were subjected to mass killings, forced relocation, and severance from their traditional lands and homes.
