In Australia, senate passes legislation for Indigenous rights referendum

Australia's Senate passed legislation [...] that paves the way for the country to hold a landmark referendum later this year on whether to recognise its Indigenous people in the constitution. In a final vote in the upper house of parliament, 52 voted in favour of the bill while 19 voted against, allowing the bill to be passed with an absolute majority. The referendum will ask Australians whether they support altering the constitution to include "Voice to Parliament", a committee that can advise the parliament on matters affecting its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. "Parliaments pass laws, but it's people that make history," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a news conference after the bill was passed. [...] Albanese will now have to set a referendum date, expected to be between October and December. It will be the first referendum Australians will vote on since 1999 when they rejected the establishment of a republic. Aboriginal people, making up about 3.2% of Australia's near 26 million population, track below national averages on most socio-economic measures and are not mentioned in the constitution. They were marginalised by British colonial rulers and not granted full voting rights until the 1960s.  [...] Getting constitutional change is difficult in Australia. The government must secure a double majority in the referendum, which means more than 50% voters nationwide, and a majority of voters in at least four of the six states must back the change. In the past there have been 44 proposals for constitutional change in 19 referendums, and only eight of these have passed. Most notably, a 1967 referendum on indigenous rights saw a record Yes vote.
Read the full article here: Reuters