The Senate vote ends months of parliamentary procedures and now requires Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to set a referendum date. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Australians will vote in their first referendum in more than two decades, with the Senate passing legislation to hold a vote on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament later this year.
The Senate vote ends months of parliamentary procedures and now requires Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to set a referendum date, which must happen no sooner than two months and no later than six months.
The proposed Voice to Parliament would be an independent advisory body that can advise the parliament and government about matters that affect the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
Albanese is expected to announce a referendum for October, which will be the first since 1999 when Australians rejected the establishment of a republic.
The Senate chamber erupted in applause as president Sue Lines announced the result - 52 votes in support, 19 votes against.
An Indigenous Voice to Parliament was proposed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 after hundreds of Indigenous elders and community leaders were consulted across the country.
Ahead of the vote, there was passionate debate in the chamber.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, a DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman, dubbed it "happy assimilation day", insisting the Voice would be little more than "appeasing white guilt".
Senator Thorpe last month told the ABC she was considering abstaining from the vote but ultimately told the chamber she could not support something that gave Indigenous Australians "no power".
Labor frontbencher Malarndirri McCarthy, a Yanyuwa woman, said the debate had been carried out in a dignified matter and despite different views and deep passion the "majority of First Nations People want this to happen".
"And that has been the very simple request by all of those First Nations people, who came together through all the dialogues and came together through Anangu country six years ago," she said.
The senators voting against the legislation were from the Nationals, One Nation, crossbenchers Lidia Thorpe and Ralph Babet and nine Liberals.
"I say to my fellow Australians, parliaments pass laws but it is people that make history," Albanese said after the vote.
"This is your time, your chance, your opportunity to be part of making history.
"It will be a moment of national unity, a chance to make our nation even greater."
While the majority of the coalition voted in favour of the bill, deputy Liberal Senate leader Michaelia Cash said it was not because they agreed with establishing a Voice to Parliament.
She said if the referendum was successful it "would destroy one of our most fundamental values - equality of citizenship".
"The majority of us will vote to pass this bill because we believe in the people of this nation and their right to have a say on this issue," she said.
The opposition has cited concerns with the proposed constitutional change, arguing it is legally fraught and will lead to regular challenges in the High Court, impeding the government.
Senator Watt defended the proposed amendment pointing to the solicitor-general and various former High Court justices, who have advised the government the wording is "constitutionally sound".
Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who quit the frontbench to campaign in support of the referendum, said it was a historic day.
He said supporting the Yes campaign was a practical way that could help close the gap in life outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Senator McCarthy urged everyone to be respectful and factual when campaigning in the coming months.
"I am mindful when we reflect on the Marriage Equality debate and the hurt, the deep hurt, that impacted a lot of those families throughout that whole debate," she told the Senate.
"All of us on the yes side, I urge you to be mindful of the commentary and the conversations that we have with the broader Australian public. All those on the no side, I ask you to do the same.
"It is time now to put this question to the Australian people."
This story was originally published by the ABC.