Indigenous leaders break their silence, call referendum defeat 'appalling and mean-spirited'

I hear Gina Reinhardt and her mining buddies are quite happy there isn't an Aboriginal advisor that could cause problems with digging up sacred sites and blowing up ancient art.

Many of those leaders would have worked for years with the Coalition to get them onside for this referendum. It was a massive betrayal of trust.

"Indigenous leaders break their silence..."

Mmmmm. Perhaps the time for leadership and not being silent was before there was a vote ...

Here's a link to the actual letter: https://ugc.production.linktr.ee/2e09849a-25e6-4743-8317-e33dfb437728_Statement-for-our-People-and-Country.pdf

It is unclear who signed the letter but the ABC understands some Aboriginal leaders had distanced themselves from an earlier draft of the statement, and did not want their names associated with it.

Seems like a lot of anger in the community that they are no longer waiting for leadership and there true feelings are being posted.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Indigenous leaders who supported the Yes case at last week’s Voice referendum have written to the prime minister saying the No vote was a “shameful victory”.

A week ago, more than 60 per cent of Australians rejected reforming the constitution to create a new Indigenous Voice, which would have advised the parliament on First Nations affairs.

The statement says it is made up of "collective insights and views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, community members and organisations who supported the Yes campaign."

The Indigenous leaders who endorsed the letter attributed the historic referendum loss to a lack of bipartisanship, as well as "lies in political advertisement and communication" and racism.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, told NITV this week that she would conduct further consultations with First Nations people "about next steps".

The letter sent to the prime minister said some leaders now want an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice established without constitutional change or legislation.

The original article contains 497 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

The best part of the referendum was when it finished, tired of hearing about it and the constant brow-beatings and moral high-horsing pumped out from the traditional mainstream media outlets

Hey congrats Australia, you've gone and been more racist than our (US) Congress! That takes gumption. I'm sure Donald T***p would be proud of you. Ya'know, if he had any idea where Australia was on a map.

What was this vote even about? Weren't people of aboriginal descent already able to be MPs and influence the country? If they want some sort of quota where there must be aboriginals in parliament that sounds like 'positive' discrimination, and it's good it didn't get passed.

Edit: I am a non Australian interested in this from an outside perspective. I have since been corrected on what the vote was actually about.