CONSTITUTION ALTERATION (ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER VOICE) 2023 

On 30 March 2023 the House of Representatives and the Senate both agreed to the establishment of the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum (the Committee). The Committee was appointed to inquire into and report on the provisions of the bill introduced by the Government to be submitted to a referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Item 1 of Schedule 1 would amend the table of contents which appears at the beginning of the Constitution to insert a reference to a new ‘Chapter IX’ named ‘Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’.

Item 2 would insert a new Chapter IX titled ‘Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ in the Constitution. It would also insert a new s 129 titled ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice’, as the only section in Chapter IX of the Constitution.

The inclusion of Chapter IX and s 129 in the Constitution would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia in the Constitution through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice (Voice).

Clause 2 of the Bill provides for it to commence on the day on which the Bill receives Royal Assent. Under s 128 of the Constitution, a proposed law to alter the Constitution shall be presented to the Governor-General for Royal Assent if it is approved by a majority of electors voting in a majority of states and by a majority of all electors voting.