The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum will not be successful, and the Voice is not going to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution, the ABC has projected.
What was the Voice referendum’s result?
The ABC has called the result after it became clear The Voice will not pass any level of the necessary double majority, failing to achieve a successful ‘yes’ vote in a single state.
The Northern Territory also had a ‘no’ majority. The ACT stands alone as the sole win of the Yes Campaign. Neither of the territories count toward the state majority.
The other necessary aspect of the double majority, the national vote, has also been projected as a win for the ‘No’ vote.
This result means that the Indigenous Voice will not be enshrined into the Australian Constitution, and the “status quo will continue,” according to constitutional and electoral law expert George Williams AO.
What have been the reactions to the result?
Reactions to the result from members of the Indigenous community have been devastating to read.
“It makes me sick. It’s a really sad indictment,” said former politician and athlete Nova Peris. “It is not even about change, it’s about the truth and it’s about something that should have happened 122 years ago.”
Director of the Yes23 campaign Thomas Mayo has condemned the vocal ‘no’ voters, saying: “History will reflect poorly on Peter Dutton, Pauline Hanson, all of those that had opposed this.”
Tony Armstrong shared a post on Instagram simply reading: “Shattered.”
On the other side of the campaign, is independent senator Lidia Thorpe who advocated against an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution before a treaty.
Thorpe stated: “It’s been a horrible 12 months for a lot of people. Yes, No, in between don’t know, and don’t want to deal with it. Blackfellas have gone overseas to get away from this because it’s been so hurtful. But we have to, you know, not allow our people to be so downtrodden once again because that seems to be repetitive in this country.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his sadness at the unsuccessful referendum, saying: “We argued for this change not out of convenience but from conviction, because that’s what people deserve from their government. And of course, when you do the hard things, when you aim high, sometimes you fall short. And tonight we acknowledge, understand and respect that we have. As prime minister, I will always accept responsibility for the decisions I have taken, and I do so tonight.”
Leader of the Opposition and ‘no’ advocate, Peter Dutton, has stated that this was “the referendum that Australia did not need to have.”
“The proposal and the process should have been designed to unite Australians, not to divide us,” Dutton said. “What we’ve seen tonight is Australians literally in their millions reject the Prime Minister’s defensive referendum.”
Votes are still being counted by the AEC, who said to PEDESTRIAN.TV that they “legally cannot” declare results on the night. “We have to be mathematically certain.”
This will join the long list of Australian referendums which did not pass, now 37 in total.
The last referendum to have been successful in Australia was in 1977, when the country decided to add an age cap of 70-years-old to federal judges.
