Civic education push ahead of Indigenous voice to parliament referendum
The Australian Constitution, how it was formed and how referendums work will be explained to voters in a ‘neutral and easy to understand’ education campaign.
The Australian Constitution, how it was formed and how referendums work will be explained to voters in a “neutral and easy to understand” education campaign that will be delivered jointly by the Museum of Australian Democracy and the Constitution Education Fund Australia.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on Wednesday announced the two non-profit organisations would share in $1.475m of commonwealth funding to deliver a civics information program ahead of the voice referendum, tipped to be in October.
Australians will be asked to decide if new words should be added to the Constitution to guarantee the existence of an Indigenous advisory body to parliament and government.
The Museum of Australian Democracy, chaired by former Liberal senator Nick Minchin, will get $475,000 and the Constitution Education Fund Australia, chaired by former High Court chief justice Robert French, will get $1m.
Ms Burney said the organisations would work together on a grassroots civics program which will provide accessible, neutral and easy-to-understand information about the Constitution and referendum processes.
The Constitution Education Fund Australia has been working on a series of online lessons that Australians will be invited to sign up for. People will continue to receive information and quizzes until the eve of the voice referendum. Anyone who completes all four learning modules gets a badge declaring “I am an informed voter”.
Kerry Jones, who was appointed by John Howard to run the No campaign in the lead-up to the 1999 republic referendum, will oversee the digital education campaign in her role as chief executive of Constitution Education Fund Australia.
“We are going to give people real information. We want to have a civil debate so that we can show young Australians that we can tackle big issues in a respectful way,” she said.
“That is not what happened in 1999. It got very nasty.”
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