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Friday, 04 August 2023 14:43

What’s happening with the Voice referendum? [JPIC Issue 07]

jpic thevoice01 350When will it be?

We don’t yet know the date of the referendum, but it must be held between two and six months from 19th June, when laws about the wording of the question and the amendment to the Constitution were passed. Many believe that a Saturday in October is the most likely time.

What is the referendum question?

The question posed to all Australians will be:

A proposed law: To alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?

The concept of a Voice grew from years of discussion among many hundreds of Indigenous Australians about recognising First Nations peoples in the Constitution, and was cemented during the National Constitutional Convention at Uluru in 2017 when over 250 delegates issued the Uluru Statement from the Heart, in which they called for “constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.” At present, all state and territory governments in Australia support the Voice, but some recent polling shows popular support for the Voice is slipping.

pdf Download Issue 07 of our JPIC Bulletin (914 KB)