Dispelling Australia's Referendum Misunderstandings

https://lemmy.world/post/6789352

Dispelling Australia's Referendum Misunderstandings - Lemmy.World

Hello All, I thought i’d start a discussion on this as there is an international reputation forming that may not be justified due to misinformation. The vote was to change the Australian Constitution to include a section giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples a voice in parliament, which they already have through inner dialogue between their mobs and local governments. How this constitutional change would look or be enacted was not known and very vague, with the crux being that it would still be government controlled, there was widespread animosity from First Nations people about it being another ‘white-man’s decision’, it would create division by being unequal when indigenous Australians are striving for equality. These are the key reasons behind the nation’s ‘No’ vote. It was never a vote about if you ‘like Aboriginal Australians or not’ as many of the articles here seem to indicate.

The Yes and No arguments have been published without fact checking. Here's what you need to know

The Yes and No cases for the Voice to Parliament, drafted by parliamentarians from each side of the debate. Who kept their facts straight?

ABC News
Interesting perspective. Maybe you could find some good articles with more nuance to post?
What makes you say the proposal was unpopular among First Nations people? The few pre-referendum polls of indigenous Australians seemed to indicate that the majority were in favour.
Anthony Albanese says surveys show between 80 and 90 per cent of Indigenous Australians support the Voice. Is that correct?

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed surveys show Indigenous Australians support the Voice at a rate between 80 and 90 per cent. Is that correct? RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates.

ABC News
This article is two and a half months old with data taken in January and March, 7 to 9 months ago. The data that 80 per cent (margin of error +/- 7.3 per cent) and 83 per cent (+/- 2.3 per cent) respectively is bad data. The YouGov poll in March had a sample size of 15,060 Australians and the organisation told the ABC at the time that this included 738 respondents who were Indigenous. This compared with a sample size of 300 Indigenous people for the Ipsos poll in January. Far too small a pool of First Nations Australians to be accurate. The referendum results, however, tell a different picture.