In May 27, 1967 and Australian referendum which was passed by over 90% of voters which removed the constitutional barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizenship and gave the Commonwealth the power to make laws for the health and welfare of Indigenous Australians. [1, 6]
At the time of a global civil rights movement, it took a widely publicised campaign to show the Australian people “the wrongs” that need to be rectified and demonstrated the power of the media to inform and drive a view point within a population.
Since 1901 formation of the Constitution, 19 referendums have proposed 44 changes to the Constitution; only 8 changes have been agreed to. A referendum is only passed if it is approved by a majority of voters in a majority of states (not territories), and by a majority of voters across the nation, known as a double majority. [6]
In 1962 the Commonwealth Electoral Act was amended to give all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults the right to vote in federal elections, although enrolling was optional, and not made compulsory until 1984 making it in line with the rest of the nation. [4, 5]
[Edit] By 2022, during the federal election run-up, Labor’s Albanese campaign pushed for new referendum which became known as “The Voice”, which again the media pushed hard and manipulated-censorship was used to control information. [2, 3]