Australia will hold a referendum later this year on having an Indigenous Voice to Parliament written into the constitution.
While the Voice could be done without a referendum, Indigenous people asked in the Uluru Statement from the Heart for it to be enshrined into the nation's founding document as recognition for First Nations people.
For a change to be made to the Australian Constitution, voters must approve of it being amended through a referendum.
So, what is the Voice, what is a referendum and who will be voting in it?
What is the question I will be voting on?
For several months, representatives of First Nation communities from around Australia have discussed what the wording for the Voice referendum question put to voters should be.
This week the Referendum Working Group finalised its recommended wording of the referendum question, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announcing the proposed wording to be put to voters:
A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?
What would an Indigenous Voice to Parliament be?
It would be a permanent body representing First Nations people that would advise government about policies affecting Indigenous people.
The Voice would be an advisory body, but it would not have powers to overrule parliament, commonly known as "veto" powers.
How would the constitution change?
If the referendum is successful, the constitution will be amended to add a new chapter, "Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples", which will include this wording:
In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
3. The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
What are referendums, and how do they work?
Referendums are similar to federal elections but they do differ in some ways.
The biggest difference is that for a referendum to be successful, a double majority is needed.
This means not only do a majority of Australian voters in a referendum need to support the proposed change, but the majority of voters in a majority of Australia's six states need to support the change.
Territory voters' votes will therefore count to the former total, but will be irrelevant to the latter condition of the double majority.
There is also no ranked choice voting, as voters will only need to answer either "Yes" or "No" in response to the proposed question.
Also, you will have to literally write out "Yes" or "No" in the box provided on the ballot paper, not mark or number a box as in parliamentary elections or the marriage equality survey.
If your handwriting isn't up to scratch though, parliament has passed a bill with amendments to how a referendum is run, which says it will accept ballots marked "Y" as counting as a Yes vote and "N" as a No vote.
Another difference with the referendum is that a pamphlet containing arguments both for and against a Voice to Parliament — as well as the details of the proposed constitutional change — will be sent to every enrolled household at least a fortnight before the vote takes place.
How do I vote?
The government wants voting in the referendum to feel as similar as possible to voting in a parliamentary election, so people feel familiar with the process.
And, so — like an election — only Australians over the age of 18 years who have enrolled to vote will be allowed to cast a ballot.
Postal votes will be allowed for similar reasons as those in an election — such as being more than 20 kilometres from a polling place, serious illness or being overseas — and pre-polling booths will be opened no sooner than 12 days before the official Saturday polling day, in most cases.
Voters will be able to turn up to polling places, just as in a federal election, where they will be marked off and then presented with a form that will contain the ballot with the proposed change to the constitution.
Is it compulsory to vote in the referendum?
Yes. It is compulsory to vote.
As the Australian Electoral Commission puts it:
"It is compulsory, by law, for all eligible Australian citizens aged 18 and older to enrol and vote in referendums and federal elections. If you are already enrolled you do not need to enrol again to vote in a referendum."
You can check your current electoral enrolment online.
What does the ballot paper look like?
We can't show you what the final ballot will look like exactly, but if you squint, you can make out what the ballot from our last referendum looked like here:
When was the last time we had a referendum?
This referendum will be the first in many people's lifetimes, because the last referendum was held all the way back at the end of the 20th century.
The Australian republic referendum was held in 1999, with voters required to answer "Yes" or "No" to two questions.
One asked whether the constitution should be altered to establish Australia as a republic, with the queen to be replaced as our head of state with an Australian president appointed by two-thirds of the members of parliament.
The other question asked whether a preamble should be inserted into the constitution, adding new wording.
The referendum questions were both voted down, with a total of 54.87 per cent of Australians voting "No" to Australia becoming a republic, and a total of 60.66 per cent of voters opposed to inserting the preamble.
In 2017, Australia did hold a vote on whether to legalise same-sex marriage, but that vote was a survey not a referendum, and was voluntary, not compulsory.
When will we be voting?
We still do not know the date that the referendum will be run, but it will be on a Saturday after September, because the prime minister wants to avoid it clashing with key sports grand final weekends.
However, the referendum cannot get underway until a bill with the formally proposed change to the constitution passes parliament, triggering the referendum process.
The federal government intends to introduce such a bill to parliament next week.
A joint parliamentary committee will then be established to consider the bill and receive public submissions on the wording.
It is expected that a parliamentary vote for the referendum will be held in June.
