Australia

Work on The Voice referendum started in 2007, and despite decades of work it was a complete failure.

The idea that something meaningful can be done in months, where decades failed, is pretty ridiculous. Yes, we need to be working on it. But it's going to take a very long time.

The biggest problem was the LNP backing out and refusing to support it, even though this was a bipartisan effort all along (and actually started when LNP was in government). There's lots of talk about what Labor is going to do next, but it's really not up to them. Clearly what they want is what they tried (and failed) to actually achieve, and the real question is what can they achieve now?

Realistically what they can achieve is whatever LNP will support. Dutton promised to bring a legislated version of The Voice to parliament, so lets see what he actually meant by that. Presumably if it's a step in the right direction it's going to have bipartisan support. It needs to come from LNP - they need to tell us what they will support.

Unfortunately, actions speak louder than words, and what LNP are actually doing is very different to what they said on the campaign trail. It seems pretty clear that they won't support anything at all that will lead to reconciliation.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Queensland passed the Path to Treaty Act 2023 with bipartisan support but, after the referendum, the Liberal National party announced that if it were elected it would repeal that legislation.

The Uluru statement from the heart calls for truth-telling, whereby Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the opportunity to record evidence about past actions and share their culture, heritage and history with the broader community.

The retiring senator Pat Dodson and other Indigenous politicians have called for truth-telling to be prioritised after a major survey found 80.5% of Australians would back such a process, despite the failure of the referendum.

The attorney general, Kyam Maher, has said the referendum outcome does not change that policy, and a South Australian voice to parliament is “absolutely going ahead”.

The late great Indigenous leader Yunupingu once commented that he had witnessed Bob Hawke shed tears over his failure to realise the 1988 Barunga statement which called for recognition of the rights of Aboriginal people.

There has been a distinct loss of energy and depletion of public interest post-referendum, and with the sting of the failed referendum still in the minds of all politicians and allies, it is understandable there is nervousness about how to move forward.

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