Emotional PM reveals question Australians will be asked for constitutional change on Indigenous recognition

Australians will be asked to recognise the First Peoples of the nation in a referendum later this year, after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, unveiled the final wording of the constitutional amendment and question.

In an emotional press conference, featuring personal reflections from Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders, Albanese wiped away tears as he implored voters and the Coalition opposition to back the referendum.

“This is a modest request. I say to Australia, don’t miss it,” Albanese said.

The proposed amendment, to be contained in a new chapter in the constitution, would establish a body known as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The advisory body would be able to make representations to the parliament and executive government.

After two days of negotiations in Canberra, Albanese and the government accepted the strong advice of its internal working group of Indigenous leaders to retain the voice’s power to advise executive government, including the cabinet and the public service, despite concerns raised by a small number of conservative critics.

In a press conference in Canberra alongside Burney and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, as well as Indigenous Labor MPs including Pat Dodson and Malarndirri McCarthy, Albanese became emotional at several points, choking back tears.

Several other members of the group, which included Indigenous leaders Prof Marcia Langton, Megan Davis, Ken Wyatt and Pat Anderson, also wiped tears and embraced one another in support.

“I want to thank sincerely all the members of the working group and all who have engaged with them. For many, this moment has been a very long time in the making,” Albanese said.

The legislation will be introduced to parliament next Thursday and be sent to a parliamentary committee for inquiry. Albanese said there was no circumstance in which the government would back down on its plan to hold a referendum in the final three months of the year.

“You only win when you run on the field and engage … we’re all in,” Albanese said.

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The proposed amendment is near-identical to that suggested by Albanese at the Garma festival last year. Advice from the working group to the government said the reference to executive government should be retained, but one small change clarifies that the parliament has “broad scope” to make laws relating to the voice.

The working group said the voice would be “an unflinching source of advice” to parliament and decision-makers.

The specific details of the voice, such as how many members it has and how they will be chosen, will be decided after a successful referendum. However, the group also released a broad set of design principles about the voice, including that its membership would be chosen by Indigenous people in a way that suits local communities, that it would be representative on geographic and gender measures, that it would be accountable and transparent, work alongside existing organisations, and notrun any programs or have veto power.

Langton, who co-designed a 2019 report outlining a voice to parliament under the former Coalition government, strongly denied claims from critics that the advisory body would not improve the lives of Indigenous people.

“We’re here to draw a line in the sand and say, this has to change. People’s lives have to improve,” she said.

“We know from the evidence that what improves people’s lives is when they get a say. And that’s what this is about.”

Albanese acknowledged the challenge of referenda succeeding in Australia, with just 8 of 44 since federation being successful, but said he was committed to seeing the question put.

“I do feel a weight of responsibility. It is a risk, having a referendum. They usually don’t succeed. If you were just about positioning on politics as usual, I might not do this. But the people here can’t wait,” Albanese said, referring to the Indigenous leaders gathered behind him.

“They can’t. They’ve waited so long. The people who aren’t here, like Noel [Pearson], and others, they’ve waited a long time for justice.”

The question

A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?

The proposed alteration

Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

1: There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

2: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;

3: The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.