Showing posts with label Australian Electoral Commission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Electoral Commission. Show all posts

Tuesday 24 October 2023

The NSW Northern Rivers regional community profile contains many social & economic facts and figures telling the world who we are and where we came from. This October 2023 we added a very shameful set of numbers.

 

For the record......


As at 1:15:12 PM AEDT on Monday, 23 Oct 2023, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) official ballot count for the 14 October 2023 national referendum polling places  within the two federal electorates encompassing the NSW Northern Rivers region  revealed that a combined total of 62.32% of all formal ordinary, pre-poll & postal votes were marked “NO” and only 37.67% marked “YES”.


An est. 15% of all persons on the federal registry eligible to vote in either the Page or Richmond federal electoral divisions on Monday 18 September 2023 either did not cast a vote or are yet to be included in the AEC ballot count results.


As of yesterday afternoon the percentage of voters in the Northern Rivers region who denied Australia’s First Nations formal and enduring recognition in the Australian Constitution by way of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Voice to Parliament was markedly higher than both the national (60.6) and NSW state (59.49) majority percentages for “NO”.


Not a set of numbers to make a region proud.



SOURCES:


AEC 2023 REFERENDUM TALLY ROOM

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumNationalResults-29581.htm


PAGE DIVISION COUNT

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumDivisionResults-29581-138.htm


RICHMOND DIVISION COUNT

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumDivisionResults-29581-145.htm


.iDcommunity: demographic resources, NORTHERN RIVERS REGION COMMUNITY PROFILE

https://profile.id.com.au/northern-rivers



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Statement by Central Australian Aboriginal Congress on the result of the Referendum to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice


23 October 2023


Central Australian Aboriginal Congress is saddened and disappointed that last week’s Referendum to alter the Australian Constitution to recognise First Nations people and establish a First Nations Voice to Parliament has been defeated.


A majority of people voted ’No’ to the Voice in every State and Territory except the ACT. In the Northern Territory only about 40% of voters said ‘Yes’.


However, Aboriginal people overwhelmingly supported the Voice: about 75% of voters in remote areas of the Northern Territory voted ‘Yes’. Some Aboriginal communities recorded ‘Yes’ votes of over 90%.


Congress supported a ‘Yes’ vote because we know from our own experience that when we have a say in the issues and programs that affect us, the outcomes are better.


The Voice would have helped to improve the health of our communities, building upon successes we have already achieved.


It would have made Australia a fairer and more inclusive nation.


However, despite the millions of Australians who agreed with us and voted ‘Yes’, the rejection of the place of First Peoples in the nation’s rulebook is a setback for Aboriginal people and for the nation as a whole.


Our peoples have faced many setbacks before.


But we are still here.


Resilience in the face of adversity is part of who we are.


In the face of this result, Aboriginal people – with the support of our non-Indigenous brothers and sisters – will stand strong and support each other as we have always done.


On behalf of our Board of Directors, Congress would like to thank everyone in Central Australia and across the country who voted ‘Yes’. It means a lot to us that so many non-Indigenous people chose to stand with us on this issue.


We would also like to express our appreciation and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates who met at Uluru in 2017 and drafted the Uluru Statement from the Heart which first called for the Voice.


Their invitation to the Australian people to recognise our First Nations in the Constitution and give us a Voice was both wise and generous.


Initially that invitation was well-received: a year ago, two-thirds of Australians were in favour of the Voice.


However, the deliberate strategy of deception and misinformation adopted by prominent ‘No’ campaigners turned many previously good-willed people against us.


In doing so, they gave permission for racism to run wild.


Given the result of the Referendum and the conduct of the ‘No’ campaign, there are now serious questions about whether reconciliation is still a viable strategy in Australia.


Nevertheless, one thing remains certain: sooner or later the nation state must deal with the enduring fact of Aboriginal sovereignty.


In the meantime, our struggle for equality, justice and self-determination will continue.


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Land Councils joint statement about the Referendum outcome

21 October 2023


Through the Uluru Statement, Aboriginal people asked to be recognised in the Nation’s founding document and for a formal process to be established to inform government decision making on policy that affects our people and our communities


Thank you to the supporters who stood with us during the campaign. The Prime Minister showed courage to take the proposal to the Australian people, through a referendum. Campaigners were steadfast in their support.


On referendum day the majority of Australians denied this simple request.


The mistakes of the past will be continued with the latest mandate. In effect it is an attempt to silence Aboriginal people which is likely to further disadvantage our communities. The request for a voice was simple. Listen to us before you make decisions about us.


We are disappointed, but not surprised”, said Northern Land Council Chair Dr. Samuel Bush-Blanasi.


We recognise the result of the referendum cannot be separated from a deep-seated racism. It is fair to say that not everyone who voted “No” is racist but also fair to say that all racists voted “No”. The vitriol and hatred that were part of the campaign existed prior to, but were given licence through the process. The overarching theory we are incapable of managing our own affairs is dehumanising and degrading and most of all, deeply flawed.


It is clear remote residents across Northern Australia overwhelmingly supported the referendum proposal. Eager to break the shackles of poor government decision-making, a proposal for a new system to engage with government was the opportunity to break from the past.


Chair of the Tiwi Land Council Gibson Farmer Illortaminni said that “this outcome underscores the pressing need for us to find a way forward, one that ensures our voices are not only heard but respected when crucial decisions are being made by the government, decisions that directly impact our lives, lands, seas and culture.”


With an eye on the future, we remember in the Northern Territory, we make up 30% of the population. We control 48% of the land and 85% of the coastline. We remind the public and we remind politicians, prosperity in this jurisdiction relies on us. “We ask for and will continue to expect engagement and partnership”, said Tony Wurramarrba, Chair of the Anindilyakwa Land Council.


In response to the referendum outcome the Northern Land Council, Tiwi Land Council and the Anindilyakwa Land Council say:


We are the oldest continuous living culture on the planet, and we will continue to assert our traditional and legal rights and land title to strive for improvements in social and economic outcomes.


We will continue our journey toward self-determination.


We are strong and resolute.


The Northern Land Council, Tiwi Land Council and the Anindilyakwa Land Council will continue to champion the rights of our constituents, particularly those in remote areas – through political, legislative, policy processes & advocacy.


Every successful step toward recognition and equality has been hard won and we will continue to fight for the rights of our people and the right to be heard.


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Monday 16 October 2023

It is hard not to view the results of the 14 October 2023 national referendum as a deliberate & brutal slap in the face to Australia's First Nations

 

The "No" Map of Australia
Green = NO Orange = YES
The Sydney Morning Herald
15 October 2023






As at Sunday, 15 Oct 2023 8:52:10 PM AEDT the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) national referendum vote count majority percentages stood at:


NO – 60.69%

YES – 39.41%.

[https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumNationalResults-29581.htm]


None of the six Australian states returned a majority Yes vote and of the two mainland territories only the ACT returned a majority Yes vote of 60.78%. 


According to the senior economics correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald by Sunday afternoon the vote count confirmed that 6 of the 78 federal electorates held by Labor had voted "Yes" and 55 of the 56 federal electorates held by Coalition MPs in the House of Representatives had voted "No" in the referendum.


In New South Wales the majority percentages stood at:


NO – 59.52%
YES – 40.48%.


In the NSW Northern Rivers federal electorates of Page and Richmond the majority percentages at Sunday, 15 Oct 2023 3:45:05 PM AED:


PAGE – No 68.04% and Yes 31.96%

RICHMOND – No 56.79% and Yes 43.21%


From where I stand this is a shocking response at national, state, territory and regional level to the invitation contained in the Uluru Statement From The Heart.


In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”


I can only read the 2023 national referendum result as a deliberate and brutal slap in the face to the more than 983,700 First Nations people of Australia [ABS 2021] and, especially to the majority of those 534,209 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of voting age who were enrolled to vote. [AEC June 2023].


First Nations people make up est. 4.8% of the Northern Rivers resident population [.id community 2021]. There is no assessment of the First Nations vote in this region during the referendum period. However, mainstream media has offered some broad statistics covering some polling catchments in the 2023 national referendum.


UPDATE


********

The Guardian, 15 October 2023, published 5:25pm:


Regions with a high proportion of Indigenous Australians overwhelmingly voted yes in the referendum – including the community where prominent no campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s family is from.


The yes vote in polling catchments where Indigenous Australians formed more than 50% of the population was, on average, 63% in favour of enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament, according to political analyst Simon Jackman, who estimated the proportion of Indigenous Australians at each polling area based on data from the 2022 election.


But the referendum was defeated under the weight of much of the rest of the country voting no. Nationally, only 39.6% of the population voted in favour, while 60.4% ruled it out.


This was so important for Indigenous people,” said Yanyuwa woman and Labor senator for the Northern Territory, Malarndirri McCarthy, on the ABC on Saturday night, as the reality of the defeat sunk in.


I want to emphasise the point of that to all Australians, that this was always going to be about the 3% of the population who are asking for an advisory body to the constitution.”


In the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, which takes in Alice Springs and where 40% of the population is Indigenous, 58% voted against the voice and 42% voted in favour.


But 74% of the 11,000 people that live in Lingiari’s remote areas voted yes, according to figures provided by Labor MP for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour.


The highest vote in support of yes was in Wadeye, at 92.1%. The Tiwi Islands voted 84% in favour, and Maningrida recorded an 88% yes vote.


Only one of the 20 mobile remote polling booths in the seat recorded a majority no vote.


In Yuendemu, the community home to the family of Price, shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, three in four people voted yes.


If only people down south had seen what Aboriginal people in the bush were voting for, then maybe we would have had a different result,” said Scrymgour.


We can’t change last night, but we can change what happens going forward.”


Some regions in Queensland, where only 31.3% of the state’s population voted yes, showed a similar break away trend for communities with a high Indigenous population.


McCarthy pointed out early polling results from Queensland showed on Palm Island, where the population is 93% Indigenous, three in four voted yes.


On Mornington Island, where 77% of the population is Indigenous, McCarthy said 79% voted yes. And in Lockhart River, where almost 80% of people are Indigenous, 66% voted in favour.


The overall result was at odds with claims made by Price on Saturday night during her speech celebrating the no camp’s win, in which she said a vast group of Indigenous Australians did not support the proposal.


It was suggested that 80% of Indigenous Australians supported this proposal, when we knew that that was not the case,” Price said of the figure often quoted by the yes camp to prove to Australians Indigenous Australians backed the proposal that came from Indigenous leaders.


When I knew, having spoken to people throughout the Northern Territory, to Indigenous people from the Northern Territory and right across the country, particularly in my role as the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, that a vast group of Indigenous Australians did not support the proposal.”


Price also questioned the impartiality of the commission’s delivery of remote polling, saying “remote communities are exploited for someone’s else’s agenda”.


An AEC spokesperson rejected suggestions of interference at remote polling, telling Guardian Australia “the ability to campaign at any polling place, including in remote communities, was of course the same for everyone”.


We were pleased to have delivered the largest remote voting offering ever with a 25% increase in the number of votes taken in remote communities,” the spokesperson said.


This was off the back of record rate of enrolment overall, as well as for Indigenous Australians.”


Scrymgour said the number of young Indigenous Australaians voting in the referendum was greater than recent government elections.


I don’t want them to feel depressed or to feel alienated or to feel that their vote went nowhere,” she said. “So we just need to make sure we continue to give them hope. And that tomorrow things will get better.


This is a setback, but we’ve had many setbacks over many years, and we’ll continue to fight.”


Sunday 15 October 2023

Results of the National Referendum of 14 October 2023


On Saturday 14 October 2023 the 17.6 million registered voters in Australia and her offshore territories were asked to vote on the referendum question:

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?”


For a referendum to pass, the proposed alteration to the Australian Constitution must be approved by:

  • a national majority of voters, and

  • a majority of voters in a majority of the states (at least four out of the six states).


With 8219 of 8253 polling places counted from 6pm on 14 October 2023 through to 1:38am 15 October the national majority vote percentages were:

NO – 60.25% or 7,830,019 eligible voters

YES – 39.75% or 5,166,682 eligible voters

There were 140,116 ballot papers judged to be Informal.


Based on votes counted so far, zero out of six states have a majority of 'yes' votes and there is no national majority for ‘yes’.


In New South Wales with 2825 of 2835 polling places returned the counted voter majority percentages stand at:

No – 59.14% or 1,758,814 eligible voters

YES – 40.86% or 2,545,732 eligible voters

There were 53,947 ballot papers judged to be Informal.


There are two federal electorates covering the NSW Northern Rivers region, Richmond and Page.


PAGE returned ordinary vote counts from 89 of 93 polling places on the night and counted returned postal votes in hand, resulting in voter majority percentages at:

No – 67.54% or 68,152 eligible voters

YES – 32.46% or 32,747 eligible voters.

There were 1,159 ballot papers judged to be Informal.


RICHMOND returned ordinary vote counts from 63 of 69 polling places on the night and counted returned postal votes in hand, resulting in voter majority percentages at:

No – 56.69% or 54,801 eligible voters

YES – 43.31% or 41,865 eligible voters

There were 1,341 ballot papers judged to be Informal.


The Australian Electoral Commission's online Virtual Tally Room carries all majority vote counts at:

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumNationalResults-29581.htm.

Votes across Australia by state polling places can be found at:

https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/ReferendumDownloadsMenu-29581-Csv.htm

Note: These two databases are still updating


There is no getting away from a painful truth that the majority of Australian voters counted in the national referendum rejected outright the proposal to insert an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Peoples Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution.


Rejecting the agreed wording of the proposed amendment to be inserted, which the Australian Parliament had passed on 19 June 2023:


Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice


In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:


  1. there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

  2. the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

  3. the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”



On 14 October 2023 the following was published in The Saturday Paper and this article by Marcia Langton describes the situation as it now stands:


I take no pleasure in writing this piece. I have spent my life campaigning for recognition and reconciliation in this country. Through all that time, I have found ways to feed hope. I have believed often in our better angels.


Now, though, I can see the truth: whatever the outcome of today’s vote, whether the double majority required to make this alteration to the Constitution is achieved or not, reconciliation is dead.


Australians had the opportunity to accept our invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Only they had the power to decide whether to accept or reject constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by voting “Yes” or “No” on a representative body enshrined in the Constitution.


I hope I’m wrong, but everything around me is saying that today Australia will reject that invitation. It will choose to leave our hand outstretched.


In a recent column, Chin Tan, the outgoing race discrimination commissioner, rightly identified a key lesson from the referendum campaign: “What we do already know and what has been reinforced during this referendum is that Australia urgently needs a national anti-racism framework and bipartisan response to racism.”


It’s a rational response, based on the overwhelming evidence of the surge in race hate and anti-Semitism during the referendum, not just from common or garden-variety race haters, who think we’re going to take their backyard, again, but Neo-Nazis spreading vile falsehoods in videos and memes online, threatening the lives of not just Senator Lidia Thorpe but numerous Indigenous and non-Indigenous campaigners for the “Yes” vote.


I agree with Chin Tan intellectually, but if he’s talking about bipartisanship in overcoming racial discrimination, he is dreaming. The nation has been poisoned. There is no fix for this terrible outcome. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has made racism his calling card. He has injected fear and race hate into his campaign against the referendum proposal with such gusto, such deceit, there is no hope that a national stance against racism is within reach for generations.


Dutton has cemented race hate into the body politic in a way we did not foresee last year but that now is very clear. He has killed any hope of reconciliation, ably assisted by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine.


Dutton began his “No” campaign by claiming the referendum proposal would “re-racialise” Australia. He has been a member of cabinet for a decade, a parliamentarian since 2001 – it is improbable that he has not read the Constitution or at least been briefed on it, particularly the “race power” at section 51 (xxvi). He was a minster in a government that used that very power to harm Indigenous Australians.


His other lie to Australians was “no detail”. Again, he was in cabinet when both the interim and final of the Calma–Langton Voice co-design reports, totalling more than 400 pages, were tabled and released for further consultation. It’s doubtful he read them because the detail he keeps asking for is right there in the pages.


Beyond this, the key message sold by his “No” case is that we, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, are entirely to blame for our predicament. “Colonisation,” Price said at the National Press Club during the campaign, had a “positive impact”. She elaborated with another monstrous lie: “I mean, now we’ve got running water, we’ve got readily available food.” She said there were “no ongoing negative impacts of colonisation”.


This was just one of the extraordinary, baseless statements made during her appearance at the National Press Club. She clearly does not know or care about the enormous body of evidence that contradicts her, nor the people to whom this evidence refers.


Just last year, a report from the Water Services Association of Australia showed that tap water in more than 500 Indigenous communities was not regularly tested and often wasn’t safe to drink. In remote areas, communities are receiving drinking water with unacceptable levels of uranium, arsenic, fluoride and nitrate. Fixing this is estimated to require an investment of $2.2 billion.


Price also rejected the suggestion that colonisation has led to generations of trauma and suggested families of convicts faced similar struggles. Again, the medical evidence for trauma and intergenerational trauma is substantial and very much a part of the allied health initiatives that are available to those who have access to a health service.


We know from this evidence that trauma causes high blood pressure and stress, which leads to heart problems and shortens life. It reduces one’s capacity to engage in normal social interactions, such as in the workplace or in school and in the family.


I don’t know a single Indigenous person who hasn’t encountered these issues, who hasn’t come from families that struggled and were discriminated against in profound ways. The denial of these realities by the likes of Mundine and Price, and the motives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people willing to back their views, is truly difficult to understand. Getting to this point in the logic of your argument deceives the public in the face of centuries of knowledge, understanding and experience from those of us who have done the hard yards for decades. It is denying the real experiences of Indigenous people.


Of course, there are hundreds of dedicated and passionate community-controlled organisations across the country that are doing the invaluable and gruelling work, not only on the frontlines caring for the people who are experiencing these dire realities, but also gathering the data and evidence to present to each successive government to try to advocate for change in these areas. It’s a slow and often ineffective process. These people are doing the work that would become the work of the Voice if the country sees fit to enshrine it.


In the event of a “No” vote, it will be these organisations that will continue to experience the dual trauma of witnessing the real-world, real-time consequences of ineffective and discriminatory government policy and decision-making on their communities, while simultaneously trying to work and advocate within that same system. The “No” campaign and the architects of it will have a political win that will only further entrench structural racism in our lives. They will gloat about it. They will go out of their way to make our lives worse simply because they are filled with a hatred of the marginalised. This is a curdled view of the world, based on a perverse neoliberal agenda that divides people into those who deserve support and those who don’t. Pull up your socks, get a job, the gap will be closed.


In the highly unlikely event of a successful referendum outcome, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed to establishing a parliamentary committee chaired jointly by a representative from Labor and from the Coalition who will work together to legislate the Voice. How the Voice will look – its membership and functions – would be decided by parliament, as plainly stated on the ballot paper and in all official statements of the question.


The Voice would make representations to the parliament and to the executive government, the barest measure imaginable that would give Indigenous Australians a formal say in policies and legislations that affect us, an opportunity to advise against using the “race power” to discriminate against us. This would be nothing more than advice: the parliament would retain absolute sovereignty in legislating all matters, as it has constitutional powers to do so.


But who from Indigenous Australia would serve with Dutton’s appointments to this parliamentary committee?


If the majority of Australian voters agree with the “No” campaign and laud the New Right version of racism, the approach to Indigenous Affairs will be poisoned from the top level of party policy to the bottom of the bureaucratic chain. Thousands of pages to the contrary, the data from medical specialists, epidemiologists and other experts will be out the window in favour of cheap, nasty, false, racist sloganeering.


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves will be ignored and excluded from policy decisions because the electorate has said “No”. No to including us in the constitutional fabric, no to empowering us to advise on our own futures. No to submissions to parliament and executive government to avoid using the “race power” to discriminate against us. Any Indigenous person with an iota of self-respect and regard for the futures of other Indigenous Australians will stay well away. To be a puppet for the foul vision created by Dutton and his mates, the great replacement theory advocates, would be conceding to their core belief – that we are members of an inferior race and incapable of making decisions for ourselves. Only political grifters such as Price and Mundine, both of them incapable of understanding the import of the Closing the Gap statistics, will sign up for a tour of duty with this vision.


Dutton has cemented race hate into the body politic in a way we did not foresee last year but that now is very clear. He has killed any hope of reconciliation, ably assisted by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Nyunggai Warren Mundine.


Both major parties say they support the recognition of Indigenous Australians. This is not true in practice. In fact, the appearance of policy agreement on Indigenous constitutional recognition is a saga of deceit and treachery, kicked down the road for more than a decade. The prime minister is erring on the side of good faith in citing Coalition statements in support of recognition, when those of us who have been along for the ride have watched in dismay as each government manoeuvred out of their commitments by delaying until the next election and then tossing their responsibility to the next government.


Since the Council for Aboriginal Affairs was established in 1967, in response to that year’s referendum, there have been 11 Indigenous representative bodies in total, operating with varying degrees of success. Each one of them has been dismantled on a political whim. With each election, the advances we make are swept away and new and far too often inappropriate policies replace them, policies in which we have little to no say. For more than a decade, we have had no representative body, no single group to give advice on our behalf to the parliament.


Both major parties have been responsible for abolishing these Indigenous representative bodies. The Council for Aboriginal Affairs reported directly to then prime minister Harold Holt, but following his death it was redirected to report to a new minister in charge of Aboriginal affairs, William Wentworth, and received little cooperation from the rest of the government. It was dissolved by Malcolm Fraser in 1976.


To support the aims of Aboriginal self-determination, the Whitlam government in 1973 created Australia’s first elected Indigenous representative body, the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee, to provide advice on Aboriginal policy. More than 27,000 Indigenous people voted to elect the 41 members of the committee. As it was created administratively, no parliamentary action was necessary when it was abolished in 1977. It was succeeded by another “administrated program”, the National Aboriginal Conference, which was abolished by the Hawke government in 1985.


One of the more longstanding representative bodies, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, was created by Bob Hawke in 1989. This commission, known as ATSIC, was intended to combine representative and executive roles by taking over the responsibilities of the former Department of Aboriginal Affairs.


John Howard vocally opposed the creation of ATSIC, saying its legislation struck at the heart of the unity of the Australian people. In what is now an old familiar argument, re-run by Price, Mundine and others, he said: “If the government wants to divide Australian against Australian, if it wants to create a black nation within the Australian nation, it should go ahead with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission legislation and treaty.”


To no one’s surprise, when Howard became prime minister, he conducted multiple reviews and audits in an attempt to expose fraudulent activity that would justify the shutting down of ATSIC. Following discretionary funding cuts, the commission was abolished in 2005. That same year, Howard appointed the National Indigenous Council. There was no consultation with Indigenous people. The council was dissolved by the Rudd government three years later.


So appalled were many Indigenous people at this, they began consulting across the nation on the structure of a replacement body that would be constituted by its Indigenous members and independent of government and legislation. The consultations and design process were led by Professor Tom Calma, Tanya Hosch and others, and resulted in a corporation rather than a government body, specifically so it could not be dissolved by government fiat. The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples began operating in 2010 and its members voted for the representatives on the national body. However, following the global financial crisis, the government refused to create a permanent endowment to fund its ongoing operation and by 2013 the body was relying on paid subscriptions from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members and organisations. (The congress went into voluntary administration and ceased operating in 2019.) Also in 2013, the Abbott government appointed a new Indigenous Advisory Council, chaired by Nyunggai Warren Mundine. This body was never formally abolished but appeared to stop operating after the 2019 election.


This chronology demonstrates the absolute commitment of the conservative governments to ignore the grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and appoint their own hand-picked favourites as a foil for ignoring the majority.


Not to be deterred by “identity politics”, in 2018, then prime minster Scott Morrison appointed Tony Abbott as his “special envoy for Indigenous affairs”, with a focus on “improving remote school attendance”.


In addition to representational bodies, our leaders have developed umbrella organisations or federations of community-controlled Indigenous corporations and sector-specific bodies in the fields of legal services, health and housing during the past 50 years to prosecute their policy and service approaches with Australian governments. In 2018, the largest of these, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) brought these bodies together to form the Coalition of Peaks as a non-incorporated non-government organisation. It comprises more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak and member organisations across Australia. Other bodies became members because of the urgent need to address the failure of the Closing the Gap strategy. These included the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body and several large Aboriginal land councils.


The formation of the Coalition of Peaks was in response to concerns that governments were proposing a new Closing the Gap strategy without any involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The chair of the Coalition of Peaks has said the proposed Voice to Parliament is complementary to its role.


This revolving door of Indigenous advisory mechanisms has an extraordinarily destructive impact on our people and their communities. The ability of representative bodies to provide independent, evidence-based advice to make a lasting impact is extremely limited when the body itself is under constant threat of abolition.


What has been notably absent throughout these decades of political football is bipartisanship on policies based on evidence, policies and programs that are allowed to run long enough to show some success in reaching parity in health, education, employment and income levels. What is also noticeable is the persistent refusal to acknowledge success in Indigenous affairs. The narrative of failure is wheeled out repeatedly to bolster the larger Australian narrative: Indigenous people will inevitably die out or be assimilated; Indigenous people are incapable; Indigenous people must be governed.


Marcia Langton is an Aboriginal writer, a descendant of the Yiman people of Queensland. She is professor of Australian Indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne.


NOTE: All yellow highlighting in this post is my own.


UPDATE


Sunday 27 August 2023

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) issues media release in response to factual errors and misleading comments concerning national referendum voting instructions

 



Despite the legislation concerning national referenda being clear (as evidenced by the above interview with Antony Green), misinformation and at times deliberate disinformation is to be found in both mainstream and social media concerning the proposed 2023 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament referendum.


The level of factual inaccuracy has become a matter of concern.....


Australian Electoral Commission, AEC Newsroom, Media releases 2023



Media advice: Referendum voting instructions


Updated: 25 August 2023



Australian voters are rightly proud of their electoral system – one of the most transparent and robust voting systems in the world. As a result, there is an intense, and highly appropriate level of public interest in all aspects of that system, and associated commentary online and in mainstream media. Sometimes this commentary is immediate and based on emotion rather than the reality of the law which the AEC must administer.


There has been intense commentary online and in mainstream media regarding what will and will not be a formal vote for the 2023 referendum; specifically around whether or not a ‘tick’ or a ‘cross’ will be able to be counted. Much of that commentary is factually incorrect and ignores:


  • the law surrounding ‘savings provisions’,

  • the longstanding legal advice regarding the use of ticks and crosses, and

  • the decades-long and multi-referendum history of the application of that law and advice.


The AEC completely and utterly rejects the suggestions by some that by transparently following the established, public and known legislative requirements we are undermining the impartiality and fairness of the referendum.


As has been the case at every electoral event, the AEC remains totally focussed on electoral integrity. Indeed, electoral integrity is a central part of the AEC’s published values; underpinned by, and supported through, complete adherence to all relevant laws and regulations.


How to cast a formal vote


The formal voting instructions for the referendum are to clearly write either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, in full, in English.


It is that easy: given the simplicity, the AEC expects the vast, vast majority of Australian voters to follow those instructions and cast a formal vote.


Previous levels of formality


It is important to keep scale, or a lack of it in this instance, and precedent in mind when discussing this matter.


More than 99% of votes cast at the 1999 federal referendum were formal. Even of the 0.86% of informal votes, many would have had no relevance to the use of ticks or crosses.


AEC communication


Instructions for casting a formal vote – to write either yes or no in full, in English, will be:


  • part of the AEC’s advertising campaign,

  • in the guide delivered to all Australian households,

  • an instruction by our polling officials when people are issued with their ballot paper,

  • on posters in polling places, and

  • on the ballot paper itself.


This is why the level of formal voting at previous referendums has been so high and why the AEC expects the vast, vast majority of voters to follow those instructions.


The law


Like an election, the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 includes ‘savings provisions’ - the ability to count a vote where the instructions have not been followed but the voter’s intention is clear.


  • The AEC cannot ignore the law and cannot ignore savings provisions.


The law regarding formality in a referendum is long-standing and unchanged through many governments, Parliaments, and multiple referendums. Legal advice from the Australian Government Solicitor, provided on multiple occasions during the previous three decades, regarding the application of savings provisions to ‘ticks’ and ’crosses’ has been consistent – for decades.

This is not new, nor a new AEC determination of any kind for the 2023 referendum. The law regarding savings provisions and the principle around a voter’s intent has been in place for at least 30 years and 6 referendum questions.


The longstanding legal advice provides that a cross can be open to interpretation as to whether it denotes approval or disapproval: many people use it daily to indicate approval in checkboxes on forms. The legal advice provides that for a single referendum question, a clear ‘tick’ should be counted as formal and a ‘cross’ should not.


Media resources:


AEC Newsroom

AEC YouTube (AECTV)

AEC imagery (AEC Flickr)

AEC media contacts


~~~~ENDS~~~~




BACKGROUND


The Guardian, 24 August 2023, excerpts:


Voters in the upcoming voice to parliament referendum are being urged to write “yes” or “no” on referendum ballot papers – and being warned that if they use a cross, their vote may not be counted.


The well-established and longstanding rule which will mean ticks are likely allowed but votes that use crosses are likely excluded has prompted criticism from the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, the former prime minister Tony Abbott and the no campaign, which claims the requirement will “stack the deck” against them.


The rule has been on the books, without controversy, for 30 years and six referendum questions, and when asked about ticks and crosses on Thursday, an Australian Electoral Commission spokesperson simply said: “Please don’t use them.”.


Fair Australia tweeted: “Looks like just another attempt to stack the deck against ‘no’ voting Australians.”


Abbott claimed on 2GB that “there’s a suspicion that officialdom is trying to make it easier for one side … This is the worry all along that there is a lot of official bias in this whole referendum process.”


Dutton, also speaking on 2GB, called it “completely outrageous” and claimed the situation “gives a very, very strong advantage to the ‘yes’ case”. The opposition leader said he would ask the government to draft legislation to change the rule.


The Coalition opposition did not propose amending this rule during debate on the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act earlier this year, and supported the government’s legislation....



The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2023, excerpt:


Despite Dutton’s insistence that an X should denote a No vote, in his 2022 election candidate nomination form he repeatedly placed an X in a box to indicate a Yes to questions about his citizenship and the country of his parents’ birth, for example.


Click on image to enlarge


In fact across the entire Dutton_Q47P document “x” was used interchangeably by Peter Dutton to denote Yes, No, and Not Applicable.


NOTE:

History of Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 can be found at

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A02908