Australia’s Senate votes to hold referendum on creating Indigenous Voice

Labor senators applaud after the passing of the Voice to Parliament in the Senate chamber at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra (Mick Tsikas/AAP/AP)

Australia’s Senate has voted to hold a referendum this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament – an advocate aiming to give the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.

Dozens of mainly Indigenous people stood and applauded in the public galleries when senators passed the referendum bill 52 votes to 19, meaning the referendum must be held in a two-to-six-month window.