Four in five back Indigenous voice in survey

Four out of five Australians believe it is important to establish a representative Indigenous body that has constitutional protection, according to Reconciliation Australia’s biennial survey.

The survey also found 93 per cent of people believe it is important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say in matters that affect them.

Four out of five Australians believe it is important to establish a representative Indigenous body that has constitutional protection, according to Reconciliation Australia’s biennial survey.

Since 2008, Reconciliation Australia’s barometer survey has been gauging the attitudes and experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, including towards each other.

The latest survey of 532 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and 1990 non-Indigenous people, published on Thursday, found support for an Indigenous body in the Constitution was 79 per cent. In 2020, when the last survey was conducted, 81 per cent of people surveyed were in favour. The survey has an estimated margin of error of 1.9 per cent.

On the broader question of whether it was important to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culture in the Constitution, the survey found that 82 per cent of those surveyed – and 88 per cent of the Indigenous people surveyed – were in favour.

The survey also found 93 per cent of people believe it is important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say in matters that affect them, a key element of the campaign for an Indigenous voice enshrined in the Constitution.

The survey found in the past year, most non-Indigenous people had not socialised with First Nations Australians. Just 17 per cent of non-Indigenous people had socialised with Indigenous Australians and 57 per cent of Indigenous people had socialised with non-Indigenous people.

Yet, the survey found, it was social contact that helped build trust between non-Indigenous and First Nations Australians. It found that 63 per cent of non-Indigenous people trusted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people they had never interacted with and 63 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the survey said they trusted non-Indigenous people they had never interacted with.

However, 86 per cent of non-Indigenous people trusted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people they had interacted with and 79 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people trusted non-Indigenous people they had interacted with.

Reconciliation Australia chief executive Karen Mundine said the survey had asked participants about trust because RA believes mutual trust is necessary for meaningful reconciliation.