Australia to hold Indigenous referendum

Australians will decide whether to amend the constitution to formally recognise Indigenous peoples through the creation of a body that would advise parliament on policies that affect their lives

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Have inhabited Australia for around 60,000 years. Comprise several hundred groups that have own histories, traditions and languages
  
POPULATION (2021 census)
Non-Indigenous 21,341,231   96.0%
Not stated 172,387  0.7%
Indigenous  812,728 3.3%

IDENTITY
Aboriginal  91.4% 
Torres StraitIslander: 4.2%
Both 4.4%

Population plummets after British arrival in 1788, through dispossession, new diseases, slavery and killings

Until as late as 1970s, one in three children forcibly removed from families for assimilation into White society. Government apologises for “Stolen Generations” in 2008

REFERENDUM
For it to succeed, majority of people need to vote yes.
It also needs majority support in at least four of country’s six states

SOCIAL GAP
Indigenous people live around eight years less than non-Indigenous and suffer disproportionately high rates of suicide and imprisonment

LIFE EXPECTANCY (2015-17) 
Indigenous Men 71.6  Women 75.6
Non-Indigenous  Men 80.2   Women 83.4

IMPRISONMENT
Around 15 times higher among Indigenous people

 
Gamilaraay man preparing to perfom at Sydney’s 2023 Indigenous festival

Sources: Reuters, Australian Government
Picture: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS