Indigenous Australian Voting In Australia

The leaders of the Aboriginal community proposed the issue to the government to develop a “black parliament” which would be responsible for dealing with issues affecting Aboriginals or part Aboriginals. The idea was developed and the Whitlam Government established the organization. The advantage of this was to have an organization dealing with the rights of the Aboriginals. The system is based on the decisions of the Aboriginal council members which run along 27 divisions, running along Australia to hear the issues of Aboriginals and then act upon it. This would put more concern to the issue as you would be talking about only one ethnic group, making it a bigger issue. The basic impact it had on Aboriginals was that it gave them a voice in parliament, and they could act on their basis of belief.

The 1967 Referendum had a significant impact on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Prior to this event, these people had still not received some basic civil rights. The Referendum proposed to include Aboriginal people in the census and to allow the Commonwealth government to make laws for them. This change was seen as a recognition of Aboriginal people as full Australian citizens after giving them the right to vote in 1962.

Indigenous Australians have faced many changes to their original life style, with numerous policies being brought in. These policies had an incredible affect on how the indigenous Australians lived. The policies inflicted on the indigenous Australians varied widely and had numerous impacts. The policies of assimilation, protection and integration had mainly negative impacts on the community, causing loss of identity, language and religion. The policies of self-determination and reconciliation, had mostly positive effects to the indigenous Australian community, creating a stronger bond between black and white Australians, encouraging the concept of closing the gap between indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians. These

Their native land was taken from them, and this led to an increase in Aboriginal activism. Protest groups like the Aborigines' Progressive Association and the Freedom Rides were formed. It wasn’t until 1962 that the commonwealth electoral act that began in 1918 was amended so that all Indigenous Australian could vote, and only in 1965 were Aboriginals finally granted the entitlement to full wages. (Skwirk, 2007). This impacted them in many ways us they were denied equal right for so long. ‘I want a Little Fair Play if you will be so kind enough to see on my Behalf’ (http://www.abc.net.au/civics/democracy/struggle.htm, 2001). This was from one of the many letters by John Kickett to parliament in his fight for aboriginal rights.

Firstly the change in legal and constitutional rights have been a great creator of rights for the Aboriginal people. Up until 1967 the Aboriginals did not have the right to be counted in the census. This was basically a way of saying that the Aboriginals were not Australians, almost not even people. Fortunately the 1967 referendum gave Aboriginals citizenship. It did however not end any discrimination against the Aboriginal people and

* Jasper says of his status ‘They reckon I’m just half an animal with half a vote’ (pp.22-23). Indigenous people were not counted in the population census with other citizens until 1967. Instead, they were counted as part of the flora and fauna, hence Jasper’s reference to ‘half an animal’. In 1962 voting rights were extended to Indigenous people under the Commonwealth franchise but voting was not compulsory as it was for other citizens. Hence, ‘half a vote’.

Let's take it back to the 27th of May, 1967. The Australian Referendum, called by the Holt Government is about to decide whether or not citizens of Australia believe that Indigenous Australians should be given the right to vote. Although this was a successful referendum, in the government's eyes, this was going to give the recognition that the Indigenous Australians wanted. But it didn’t. The goal was to achieve a transformative lobby to concede the adverse wrongs of our colonial past. If that is so, how is it that 50 years later, this multicultural country and its government are still continuing to fail the First Australians, and ignoring the recognition they deserve - to be recognised in the Constitution.

These include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Greece and Singapore, to name a few. Twelve of these nations aggressively enforce the compulsion of voting, giving penalties and charging fees who violate such law. One of these is Australia. It has been requiring its citizens to participate in federal elections since 1924. The country’s argument to this strict mandate is that it needs to address low voter turnout, which is currently below 60 percent.

In 1960 Canadians also saw the ability for Aboriginals to vote without losing status rights. In 1958, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker named James Gladstone, a member of Alberta 's Blood tribe, as the first Native Senator. Then, in 1960, he gave non-enfranchised Aboriginals the right

In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the

vote in the early 1900’s, still it was not until nearly one hundred years ago that they were granted

This report will cover the history of the Aboriginal Voting rights in Australia. The Aboriginals did not gain the right to federal voting at least 150 years after the British colonized in Australia. All citizens of a nation deserve equal rights.

One of the first campaigns that made Australian history was commonly known as the 1967 Referendum. It proposed to include Aboriginal people in the census and allow the Commonwealth government to make laws for the Aboriginal people. The current Commonwealth

The main parties of Australia are: the Labour Party, Liberal Party, National Party, and the Australian Democrats; these parties are voted in through a preferential system of voting (“Australia’s Political Structure,” 2011). All citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote for these parties because of compulsory voting (adopted in 1924). Australia followed many other democracies on there decision to implement compulsory voting during the 1920s. However, the country unusually added mandatory voting without other previsions (Birch, 2009). Australia was able to do so because of several strong factors supporting the measure.

On 27th May 1967, 90.77% of Australians voted in favour of changes to the Australian Constitution to improve the welfare of Indigenous signifying the end of racial discrimination . The 1967 Referendum was a practical and symbolic strategy which proposed to include Aboriginal people in the census and to allow the Commonwealth government to make laws for Indigenous Australians. The Referendum has had a significant impact on Indigenous policies as it