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Australians will vote on an Indigenous Voice to parliament this year after a bill legislating the referendum passed the Senate this morning.
The bill was passed 52-19, after a number of emotive speeches both for and against the Voice.
Ultimately, the bill to establish the referendum was supported not just by the Labor government but also by the Liberal-led opposition, although Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is opposed to the Voice itself.
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The referendum will ask Australians whether an advisory body for Indigenous Australia should be established in the constitution.
The body will not have any legislative power nor any veto over laws passed by the parliament but can offer advice on issues that affect Indigenous communities.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the referendum was years in the making and would give Australians the chance to create history.
"I say to my fellow Australians – parliaments pass laws, but it is people that make history. This is your time, your chance, your opportunity to be a part of making history. It will be a moment of national unity, a chance to make our nation even greater," Albanese said.
"This change isn't about detracting from the 122 years of our democracy.
"As the solicitor-general in his written advice says clearly – it enhances that system."
Albanese did not announce a date for the referendum but has said it will take place in the last quarter of this year.
Like a federal election, the date needs to be announced with at least 33 days' notice.
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https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1670601062196338689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Albanese said the campaign would be difficult, but he believed the referendum would ultimately be successful.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said today was a pivotal day.
"Today this Senate has passed the Constitution Alteration Bill without amendment. This is the final hurdle to holding a referendum later this year on constitutional recognition through a Voice," Burney said.
"It's on. We are one step closer to … finally recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our nation's founding document.
"One step closer to giving a voice to the needs and aspirations of Indigenous Australians. One step closer to unifying Australia and making a great country even greater."
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the Australian people could be confident the changes proposed in the referendum were constitutionally sound.
"No harm can come from this referendum, only good," Dreyfus said.
"The parliament has done its job and now it is up to the Australian people to take the opportunity offered by the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017, an opportunity for our nation to do better, to come together and to walk towards a better future."
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The bill in the Senate went to a rare third reading, during which a number of Senators spoke on the Voice.
Northern Territory Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said a vote for the Voice was also for a "better future".
"'Yes' for First Nations people to be able to make decisions in terms of advising the Parliament and the executive, as to decisions made about them so they can have input into that," she said.
"In fact, this whole debate, we have seen with research polling across the country that majority of First Nations people want this to happen."
Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Jacinta Price said it was a "dangerous and costly" proposal which would divide Australians.
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe said the Voice was a "powerless advisory body" that would not advance the cause of Indigenous sovereignty in Australia.
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