Global Courant
SYDNEY — The Australian Senate on Monday passed legislation paving the way for the country to hold a historic referendum later in 2023 on whether to recognize Indigenous people in the constitution.
In a final vote in the Senate, 52 voted in favor of the bill and 19 against, allowing the bill to pass with an absolute majority.
The referendum will ask Australians whether they favor amending the constitution to include Voice to Parliament, a committee that can advise parliament on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will now have to set a referendum date.
It will be the first referendum Australians will vote on since 1999, when they rejected the creation of a republic.
Aboriginal people make up 3.2 percent of Australia’s 26 million inhabitants.
They remain below national averages on most socio-economic measures and are not mentioned in the constitution.
They were marginalized by British colonial rulers and were not given full voting rights until the 1960s.
Legislators who supported the bill applauded and cheered as the final numbers of the House vote were read.
“It is a very simple request… to be recognized in the Constitution,” said Ms Malarndirri McCarthy, an Indigenous woman and Labor Party senator.
“Being included in the Constitution is a very big problem for indigenous peoples. A majority of the indigenous people want this to happen,” she said.
Support for the constitutional amendment is hesitant. A poll published last week showed opponents of the referendum leading by 51 percent to 49 percent for the first time.
