The crucial role of multicultural voters in the failed referendum

I have spent the past 12 to 13 years working with Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson on Indigenous constitutional recognition. The referendum’s failure on 14 October 2023 marked a sad conclusion to a story of attempted collaboration across political, ideological and cultural divides.

The concept of a constitutionally guaranteed Indigenous Voice germinated through negotiation and compromise between Indigenous leaders and constitutional conservatives. But the goodwill Indigenous people showed through the generous invitation issued in the Uluru Statement from the Heart was ultimately not reciprocated by the political right.

My new book, Broken Heart, tells that complicated story. It also traverses the nuances of attempted collaboration across cultural and ethnic divides, from my perspective as an Australian constitutional lawyer of Indian and Fijian-Indian ancestry.

It was a political reality that the Indigenous 3% minority would need supporters and advocates from the 97 % non-Indigenous majority to achieve their desired reforms. Multicultural voters were going to be crucial.

Yet (if my survey is correct) none of the official committees convened by Australian governments to progress Indigenous recognition over the last fifteen years, included a sitting participant of a non-European migrant background. Among the many leadership bodies officially charged with progressing Indigenous constitutional recognition, there was never a Chinese, Indian, Sudanese, Iranian or Vietnamese Australian expert or advocate in sight – almost as if this was a conversation exclusively between the Indigenous peoples and the white colonisers, with non-white migrants playing no role. This was also true of the various campaign bodies going into the referendum, which were headed up by Indigenous and white Australian leaders.