Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could push for bipartisan support on the referendum to set up the indigenous consultative committee in parliament when it meets on Monday.
The landmark referendum, to be held later this year, could establish the Indigenous “Voice” and can make representations to parliament on a policy affecting them.
If passed, that should add language to its constitution which can’t be amended without a referendum to recognize Australia’s Indigenous people for the first time.
Australian newspaper poll
A poll by an Australian newspaper released on Monday showed 56 percent of voters supported the change in the constitution, with 37 percent opposing it.
Australia has sought to give more recognition to its Aboriginal citizens, who have inhabited and for 60,000 years but the track is well below national averages on socio-economic measures.
“I believe very firmly that Australians could take the opportunity that they will have in the second half of this year to cast the vote for yes, to cast a vote to walk upon a path of reconciliation,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
“It might just make some citizens’ lives, some of the most disadvantaged citizens in our country, their lives better.”
Albanese, who has staked much of political capital on the referendum in Austria that only passed eight of them since becoming the independent nation, said that he wanted to get “as much agreement as possible”.
He said that “this should be above politics,” adding that he hoped to introduce legislation in the current term of a parliament.
