Australian Brexit moment. Some "action committees" with questionable financial sources managed to manipulate public opinion.
Not really. This is a tragedy but historically referendums in Australia only pass with bipartisan support.
Also historically, the side that wins the referendum doesn't win the next election, because our referendums are zero-sum yes or no choices akin to FPTP elections which favours American-style extreme politics, whereas our general elections employ preferential voting and compulsory suffrage which requires potential governments to appeal to the political centre. The referendum has shown people who the opposition party really are, and they won't be able to walk that back.
I did see something that reminded me of the last two UK referendums.
Leading figure Warren Mundine in the No camp said the referendum was "built on a lie" and a waste of time and resources that could have been better spent on struggling communities
Ah, where have we seen that pile of bullshit before?
Oh yes, Brexit saying they'd give all the EU money to the NHS, and the NoToAV lot saying that babies needed incubators, not a new voting system.
Of course none of it was actually spent on those things, it was merely a suggestion, leaving it free to be simply embezzled by Tory cunts.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in its constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.
The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and recognition in modern Australia, with First Nations people continuing to suffer discrimination, poorer health and economic outcomes.
Nationwide support for the voice was hovering at about 40% in the week before the vote, with coverage of the campaign being overshadowed by the outbreak of war in the Middle East in the crucial final days.
The failure of Australia’s previous referendum in 1999 – to become a republic and acknowledge Indigenous ownership – was seen to have failed because it put forward a specific model to voters.
It weathered accusations that it championed the voice push while failing to deliver tangible improvements for citizens facing cost of living pressures and a housing crisis hurt the yes side.
Opposition also emerged from the far left of progressive politics and a minority of grassroots Indigenous activists, who rejected the voice while calling for more significant reconciliation measures, including a treaty with Aboriginal Australians.
The original article contains 724 words, the summary contains 196 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
It would have made more sense to just legislate an advisory body to parliament as envisioned and planned, to show people: see, it's literally just an advisory body with no veto or other legislative power, and then put it to a refenedum to enshrine it in the constitution afterwards.
Would have given the no campaign less space. "If you don't know, vote no" would have had less traction.
The whole thing was a fumble. They picked the wrong time and appealed to the wrong people. They also never sold why it needed to happen.
What does a Chinese, Afghan or Sudanese citizen even understand or care about a group of people when they probably have never even met one.
They appealed to the inner city rich snobs and no one else. The inner city was going to vote yes anyway. Why didn't they go where the no votes were?
Well, that's going to age like milk.
The title is hugely misrepresenting the referendum.
Not even our conservative party, the liberals, opposed recognition of aboriginal and Torres islander people as the traditional owners of the land.
The neo liberal progressive party, labor, put in a change to political process. This is what people disagreed with.
It wasn't a change to political process. It was to be another advisory body, of which we have many over several decades.
Yep very misleading. There's recognition, and then there's the advisory board question. The Yes campaign did a shoking job and alienated everyone by calling people racist who asked questions about the Voice.
A bit off topic but, American here, the liberals are your conservative party? Interesting.
American politics are all right wing compared to other socially democratic countries.
Our major political parties are the Australian Labor Party (progressive/socialist), Liberal Party of Australia (capitalist/liberal), The Greens (environmental/progressive), National Party of Australia(authoritarian/regressives).
The Liberals and the Nats have a coalition called the Liberal National Party (LNP) because it's the only way they can get enough representation to get majority government.
Greens typically vote along Labor lines.
It's worth noting that Australian and American interpretations of liberalism differ quite significantly. The modern Liberal party and its predecessors formed in direct opposition to the Labor party, in direct opposition to the labor movement. They formed as a party against radical social change, against socialism, and for free-market policies and laissez faire capitalism, describing themselves as "classical liberals". On the other hand, "liberalism" in the US more refers to social liberalism, but it's actually the exception in that regard.
All that is to say that, when Australians refer to someone as a liberal, we mean a different interpretation of the word closer to classical liberalism.
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