A rejection 30 years in the making!

The failure of the Voice Referendum in October 2023 cannot be seen in isolation; its roots lie in the policies of the Howard government nearly three decades earlier. From the undermining of native title to the abolition of ATSIC and resistance to reconciliation, Howard’s systematic dismantling of the modest reforms initiated under Hawke and Keating set the stage for the rejection of the Voice. Beyond the referendum itself, the continued denial of self-determination is evident in the unfulfilled recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the stalled progress of Closing the Gap, leaving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples facing a bleak status quo.