Australian senator Lidia Thorpe has said the country’s planned referendum on an Indigenous “voice” to parliament should be called off because it is just “window dressing.”
Thorpe, who is a Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung woman and a granddaughter of the revered Indigenous matriarch Alma Thorpe, said the whole exercise should be dropped.
“The voice is the window-dressing for constitutional recognition,” she told reporters, according to News Corporation.
“This is just another attempt by a colonial government to make clear that it has power over us and force its rules upon us.”
These days, despite making up less than 3 percent of the country’s population, Indigenous Australians account for more than a quarter of its prison population, according to official data, with many jailed for minor crimes. About a third of Indigenous Australians live below the poverty line, suffer poorer health than non-Indigenous citizens, and have a lower life expectancy.
The government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argues that the voice—which would establish an Indigenous advisory committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues in parliament—would help improve the lives of Indigenous people by giving them a say and making sure policies are more informed.
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