A Timeline of How We Got to a Voice to Parliament Referendum

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum is one month away. Since Anthony Albanese committed to fully implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart in his election victory speech in 2022, the vote to enshrine an Indigenous representative body in our constitution – meaning future governments will not be able to retract it the way they have done in the past – has come around quickly. But it’s been a long time coming for Australia – and for Labor. 

Albanese’s connection to the Uluru Statement from the Heart is part of a desire to position his leadership at the forefront of a broader decades-long movement. The language may have changed over several Labor governments – from ‘acknowledgment’ (Paul Keating) to ‘apology’ (Kevin Rudd) to ‘agency’ (Albanese) – but the Voice would be a culmination of years of progression.

1967 Referendum

Australians vote to change the Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as part of the population. 90.77 per cent of Australian voters voted ‘Yes’.

1982 – Mabo case begins

Legal proceedings for the Mabo case begin on May 20, challenging the assumption of terra nullius (land belonging to no one) pre-British colonisation. A decision in favour of the plaintiffs – the Meriam people of the Murray Islands – would set a precedent for legitimising not just the Indigenous claim to land, but also their legal system and open up conversations about sovereignty. 

1990 – ATSIC established

Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke establishes the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission, or ATSIC, a national body in ‘recognition of Indigenous aspirations to be involved in the decision-making processes of government’. Unlike previous national bodies, ATSIC played not only an advisory role but also ran programs and delivered services, providing funding for hundreds of programs during its existence. 

10 December – Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers the Redfern Speech, the first public acknowledgment by a PM of the wrongdoings and violence suffered by Indigenous people on their own land. 

1993 – the Mabo Decision

The terra nullius myth is overturned in the high court and, as a result of the Mabo decision, the Native Title Act passes through parliament. 

1996 – Howard Government elected

A newly elected Liberal Prime Minister John Howard cuts $470 million of ATSIC budget over four years.

1999 Referendum

Howard seeks to recognise Indigenous people in the preamble of Australia’s Constitution and launches a referendum, which fails to pass.

2000 – Walks for Reconciliation

Australia’s largest collection of public demonstrations to date. 250,000 people march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of First Nations rights. The Melbourne walk drew an estimated 300,000 people. 

2004 – Howard abolishes ATSIC.

2007 – Howard promises another referendum

Howard announces a new election policy in support of the recognition of Indigenous peoples in the constitution and promises a second referendum within 18 months. 

But it never happens because Howard loses the election to Rudd, who instead promises to implement a climate change policy and an emissions trading scheme. 

A strong Rudd supporter and elected MP for Grayndler, Albanese is appointed two ministerial positions and makes his mark as leader of the house.

2008 – Rudd says “sorry”

Rudd delivers the ‘Sorry Speech’ – a ‘watershed moment for reconciliation in Australia’ that differentiates Rudd from his predecessor.

2010 – First Labor leadership spill

April – Rudd abandons emissions trading scheme in a backflip on his 2007 campaign promise. This is a lesson for Albanese who is now a key player in federal politics.

June – As a result, Rudd loses party support. Julia Gillard takes over as PM after a leadership spill. She goes on to win a federal election. 

2013 – Second Labor leadership spill

June – Rudd challenges Gillard in a second spill and wins. Albanese nearly resigns, then becomes deputy leader of the Labor party. 

October – Labor loses the federal election to Tony Abbott and the Coalition. Albanese and Shorten go head-to-head for the position of Labor leader. Shorten wins by 2 per cent. But Albanese in fact picks up more member votes.

2015 – Recognise Campaign 

Abbott endorses the symbolic ‘Recognise’ campaign, similar to Howard’s 1999 campaign. Professor Megan Davis, Noel Pearson and Pat Anderson meet with Abbott to call on him to support a new process. 

A Referendum Council is appointed to advise the government on steps towards a referendum and to have community dialogues to see if and how Indigenous people want to be recognised in the constitution.

2016 – Redfern Statement

National Indigenous peak organisations and representative bodies develop and announce the Redfern Statement, which calls for an end to budget cuts and restores funding for the Indigenous Affairs portfolio.

2017 – First Nations National Constitutional Convention

23-26 May – More than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, convened by the Referendum Council, meet at Uluru to ‘discuss and agree on an approach to constitutional reform to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.’ 

Megan Davis delivers the first public reading of the Uluru Statement, which is publicly released at the conclusion of the event. 

The statement is: ‘An invitation to the Australian people to walk with us as part of a people’s movement for structural reform achieved through Indigenous constitutional recognition… sets out a deliberately sequenced legislative reform roadmap that seeks to achieve justice and political empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’. 

It states two broad objectives: the establishment of a First Nations Voice and a Makarrata Commission, reflecting the ‘nature of reform desired rather than specifying the fine details of any proposed changes to the Australian Constitution’.

26 October – News Corp leaks a statement about the newly elected Turnbull Government rejecting the Voice to Parliament as ‘neither desirable nor capable of winning acceptance in a referendum’.  

Senior Indigenous and legal voices criticise the Turnbull Government for “a despicable act of mean-spirited bastardry”.

2018 – Albanese challenges Shorten

4 February – Albanese and some Labor party members launch calls for party reform. 

12 February – Around the 10-year anniversary of Rudd's apology, Shorten announces Labor will begin work to legislate the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. This is an opportunity for Albanese to differentiate himself from Shorten by choosing a constitutional approach.

22 June – Albanese lays out a manifesto calling for a progressive Labor and an empowered grassroots membership thereby indirectly positioning himself – and a potential path to election victory – as different from Shorten’s more conservative approach.

2019 – Labor loses to Liberal 

18 May – Labor loses federal election under Shorten to Scott Morrison and the Coalition in what should have been an un-losable election. 

Albanese becomes the Labor party leader unopposed. In his victory speech, he publicly mentions, for the first time, the Voice.

“Our nation is diminished by not recognising First Australians in our Constitution and while Indigenous Australians are the most disadvantaged in our nation, Labor stands ready to cooperate on how we advance the agenda of the Uluru statement.”

In the meantime, Ken Wyatt commits to a ‘co-design’ process to create a legislated version of the Voice to Parliament. 

2021 – Albanese signals support for Uluru Statement

25 April – Albanese travels to Uluru and begins pushing for constitutional recognition of the Voice, signalling this could be a major focus for Labor in the upcoming 2022 election.

5 August – To coincide with the release of the Closing the Gap report, Albanese makes a speech to criticise the Coalition’s Indigenous policies and lays out Labor’s alternative vision. A large focus of this speech is on the Uluru Statement’s calls for constitutionally-enshrined Voice and Treaty, which he once again backs as an important step.

2022 – Labor wins federal election

10 April – Creators of the Uluru Statement campaign to make the Voice to Parliament a key election issue, with Albanese explicitly calling out the Morrison government for inaction and stating that Labor would want a first-term referendum.

1 May – Labor launches its federal election campaign. Albanese promises Labor will implement the Uluru Statement in full. 

21 May – Albanese wins and opens his victory speech with support for the Uluru Statement. He stops short of immediately declaring a referendum, stating:

“We can answer its patient, gracious call for a voice enshrined in our constitution.”

20 July – Albanese signals a referendum at the Garma Festival, outlining a draft referendum question and his suggested changes to the constitution, stating it is a “basis for dialogue” to give shape to the conversation. 

As the prospect of a referendum starts to become a reality, public debate gathers steam. Whilst overall ‘Yes’ support is positive, it becomes clear that the order in which the Statement should be implemented – Voice or Treaty first – becomes a thorny issue. 

9 September – The Referendum Working Group is formed to provide advice to the government on launching the referendum. 

2023 Referendum

23 March – Albanese announces the wording of the referendum.

July – Support for a ‘Yes’ result is dropping. Polling shows more Australians are now against the Voice for the first time, with a strong demographic link to opinions. 

Support for Albanese also falls (though still well above Dutton) amidst high inflation and economic issues.

19 August – Albanese rallies the Labor Party to ramp up efforts for a ‘Yes’ vote, asking members to ‘get out there and campaign like you have never campaigned before!’ 

30 August – Albanese announces 14 October as the referendum date.

Kimberley Low is a writer and photographer based in Melbourne.

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