Australia Day focuses on the recognition of black people in the Constitution
Written byTimes Magazine
Australians on Thursday celebrated the 235th anniversary of British colonization with a public holiday that sparked anger at injustice faced by Aboriginal people and drew national attention to a new government push to recognize Australia's first residents in the constitution.
The government joined several major companies in giving employees the choice of taking the bank holiday off or working Thursday and taking another day off instead, in recognition of growing public unrest over the celebrations to raise the Union Jack in Sydney Cove. Due to the disastrous effects of British settlers taking their lands without a treaty, there has been increasing public calls to change the date of Australia Day, known to many Indigenous peoples as Invasion Day and Survival Day. would set up an indigenous body called "The Voice" to speak before Parliament on indigenous issues of the year.
The referendum, expected to take place between August and November, would enshrine the "Voice" in the constitution.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed to a referendum on the day his centre-left Labor Party government was elected last May. Albanese said he wanted Aboriginal people to be recognized as Aboriginal people in the constitution, which has been in place since 1901, ahead of Australia Day next year. “If not now, when will this change occur? And if it's not the people of Australia this year, who is going to make this change that will improve our country, improve our national unity?"
Albanese told reporters Thursday."It's a great country. Australia will be even better if we recognize our indigenous people in our constitution." Noel Pearson, an Indigenous leader and longtime advocate of constitutional change, said the Voice was a step toward "an agreement between the indigenous people and those who took over the continent and the founded modern Australia." the First Fleet," Pearson wrote in Thursday's Sydney Morning Herald, referring to the 11 British convict ships that established Sydney as a penal colony. But reactions to the voice have been mixed, even among Indigenous leaders.Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, an Indigenous senator from the conservative Nationales party, opposes Voice. His party supports his view that the Voice would divide Australia along racial lines.
Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous Progressive Green Party senator, on Wednesday threatened to defy the Voice unless the referendum issue includes an acknowledgment that traditional owners have never abandoned their land.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said his conservative Liberal Party needed more details on what The Voice would entail before deciding whether to support the constitutional amendment. the prime minister is talking about that,” Dutton told reporters.
"They understand that changing the Constitution is a big deal and instinctively, like me and millions of Australians, we want better outcomes for Indigenous Australians," he added. Australians make up 3.2% of the population and are the country's most disadvantaged ethnic group.They die younger than other Australians, have lower educational attainment, are less likely to be employed and are over-represented in prisons.
They were not allowed to vote in federal elections until 1962, and Australian courts only recognized in 1992 that their ancestors had lawfully owned the land when the British arrived. Thursday's Australia Day celebrations centered on Sydney Harbour, where attractions included an annual historic sailing ship race. Separately, thousands of people gathered in central Sydney to mark the 85th anniversary of the original Day of Mourning protest. in 1938, when protesters made demands, including citizenship rights, for Indigenous Australians.
Trending News
