Australia’s Voice To Parliament Referendum Fails

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum has failed with over 60 percent of Australians voting no this weekend. 79 percent of the vote had been counted as of the time of writing (Oct. 16).

Shane Wright of The Sunday Morning Herald reports that polling booths serving communities with a greater share (or a high number) of Indigenous Australians were more likely to see a higher Yes turnout, countering the claims used by the No camp leading up to the referendum that there was little support for the Voice among Indigenous groups. This includes, among others, the Queensland polling booth at Mornington Island (78 percent yes) as well as the Northern Territory’s Wadeye (92.1 percent), and the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin (84 percent).

Several metropolitan electorates also saw a higher Yes turnout than the country average, such as Melbourne (77.3 percent), Grayndler (74.3 percent), Sydney (70.8 percent) and Canberra (70.3 percent).

The failure of the referendum, which had been preempted by a number of earlier polls, is a major blow for indigenous rights in a country where deep inequalities continue to be reflected through multiple indicators, from overrepresentation in prison populations to suicide rates.

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have lived in the country for over 60,000 years, they are still not recognised in Australia’s Constitution. As a result of the vote, the country will continue to lag behind several other nations which have treaties with their First Peoples, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Find out more data on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Statista dossier.