On Wednesday, one of Australia’s longest-serving prime ministers called British colonization “the luckiest thing that happened” to his nation while forecasting the failure of a referendum that would have given Indigenous communities a “voice” in determining national policy.
A referendum on whether to grant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders the constitutional right to be consulted by the government on laws that affect them is anticipated to take place in Australia this year.
But conservative John Howard, who led Australia from 1996 to 2007, claimed that Australians hadn’t yet been informed of the ways in which this will improve Indigenous peoples’ social, educational, and health outcomes.
The Australian newspaper released an interview with Howard on Wednesday in which he stated: “I think it will go down significantly — that’s my sense.”
The 84-year-old claimed that the fight for an Indigenous Australian “voice” should not be the main point of attention.
As an alternative, he said that Australia should “just talk about how to lift up Aboriginal people, and put them in the mainstream of the community, finding out ways of doing it.”
He dismissed the idea of reparations and treaties, describing the latter as “constitutionally repugnant”.
“I do hold the view that the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British,” he said.
“Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonisers than other European countries.”
His comments come as surveys show sluggish support for the “yes” campaign; a Resolve poll conducted for Nine newspapers about a week ago showed the “no” campaign in the lead with 52 percent of the vote.
Additionally, the campaign has grown more contentious, dogged by claims of false information, bigotry, and “Trump-style politics”.
“Shouldn’t we just be sitting down and talking to each other?” asked Howard.
It’s going to be challenging, he added. It will require a lot of time. We don’t expect it to be as successful as we would like. But why are we torturing ourselves in this way?
