Australian PM Albanese takes share of blame for indigenous referendum failure

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday that he accepted his share of blame for the failure of a referendum question on Indigenous recognition that could weaken his authority.

More than 60 per cent of Australians voted “no” in the landmark referendum last Saturday that asked whether to alter the Constitution to recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and create an advisory body that would have advised Parliament on matters concerning the communities.

Mr Albanese staked significant political capital on a “yes” vote, pushing ahead despite the opposition Liberal Party opposing it.

Only eight of 45 referenda have been successful in Australia’s history as a nation, none without bipartisan support.

He faced Liberal leader Peter Dutton in Parliament on Monday for the first time since the referendum failure.

“We know that referendums are hard, that is why only eight of 45 have passed,” Mr Albanese said. “I certainly accept responsibility for the decisions that I have taken.”

Mr Dutton, who had backed a second referendum solely on recognising Indigenous people in the Constitution, appeared to row back on the pledge on Monday, saying there would be no appetite for a second vote “for some time”.

Mr Albanese still leads Mr Dutton as the country’s preferred leader, and the governing Labor Party is polling above the level at which it won power in the May 2022 election, regaining ground on the eve of the referendum.

Political analysts have said the unpopularity of the referendum has not yet shown a significant adverse impact on Labor in polls.

The referendum outcome is seen as a major setback for reconciliation efforts with the country’s Indigenous community and risks damaging Australia’s image in the world regarding how it treats people in that community.

“The damage from Saturday’s vote will be extreme,” an editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald said on Monday. “This will set back the cause of reconciliation, despite what politicians are saying.”

The country’s main business newspaper, the Australian Financial Review, called the result “heartbreaking” for the Indigenous community, who have suffered from centuries of neglect and discrimination since colonisation by Britain in 1788.

Remote areas dominated by Indigenous communities voted strongly in favour of the referendum question, Mr Albanese said, in contrast to the rest of the country.

Aboriginal Australians grieved the collapse of the landmark push for Indigenous rights, with Indigenous leaders calling for a “week of silence” to mourn the “bitter” outcome of Saturday’s landslide vote.

Indigenous voter Shirley Lomas was defiant, saying the defeat had done nothing to crush her resolve. “Aboriginal people have been here for 60,000 years, and we’ll continue to be here,” she told AFP in the wake of the result.

“Voters voted ‘no’ because they fear change. Most of them wouldn’t even know an Aboriginal person.”

Australia’s Indigenous citizens, who make up 3.8 per cent of the country’s 26 million population, have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years but are not mentioned in the Constitution and are, by most socio-economic measures, the most disadvantaged people in the country.

Political gains have not come easily for Aboriginal Australians, who have fought tooth and nail over the years to secure basic voting rights, own traditional lands and win election to Parliament.

Supporters saw the referendum as a way to unite the country while addressing the historical injustices inflicted upon First Nations people. REUTERS, AFP