Australia advances Indigenous referendum

STORY: [Australia Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese] "If not now, when? That is an opportunity that doesn't belong to the politicians, it belongs to every Australian equally."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fought back tears on Thursday (March 23) as he revealed the question millions of Australians will be asked this year: whether to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the country's constitution.

"This moment has been a very long time in the making. Yet they (indigenous community) have shown such patience and optimism through this process."

A vote will be set between October and December to amend the constitution - the first time in over two decades - and create a committee in parliament: a 'Voice to Parliament'.

It would provide non-binding advice to parliament on matters that affect First Nations people.

Thomas Mayo is the National Indigenous Officer of the Maritime Union of Australia.

Here he is speaking in late February:

"Well, the symbolic part of the referendum is recognizing Indigenous people as the first peoples. But the form of recognition that Indigenous people have proposed is through having a voice because it gives us greater fairness."

Indigenous people have inhabited the Australian continent for 60,000 years but are not mentioned in its 122-year-old constitution.

Now they represent about 3.2% of its population.

Indigenous numbers shrank after British colonization.

They were dispossessed of their land, exposed to new diseases, forced to work in slave-like conditions, and killed by colonizers.

Aboriginal people still track below national averages on most socio-economic measures and suffer disproportionately high rates of suicide and imprisonment.

A poll by The Australian newspaper showed 56% of voters support the change in the constitution, while 37% oppose it, and they lay on both sides of politics.

Some Indigenous groups would prefer a treaty with the government, similar to Canada and New Zealand.