Advocates of Indigenous constitutional recognition call on major parties to capitalise on increased support for referendum

Sydney : Advocates of Indigenous constitutional recognition are calling for the major political parties to capitalise on a new poll showing strong national support for change and increasing awareness of the issue.The taxpayer-funded group Recognise commissioned the poll in July and August through Polity Research, randomly selecting respondents for an online or phone survey.No specific question has been finalised for a referendum vote.Respondents to the survey were asked firstly whether they had heard about the proposed referendum, and secondly which way they would vote if they had to cast a ballot today.The poll found awareness of the general prospect of constitutional recognition increased from 37 per cent to 63 per cent of the population, compared with a similar poll in March.The poll also looked specifically at Indigenous awareness of the issue and found it had grown from 52 per cent to 73 per cent over the same time period.
The March poll measured support for a “Yes” vote at 79 per cent across the country while the latest data has measured 85 per cent support.
Specific questions in the poll:
Have you heard about the proposed referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution?
If a referendum were held today and you had to decide how would you vote?
The margin of error for the poll was close to 2 per cent, based on a sample size of 2,950 respondents.
The Government is yet to name the referendum council members who will oversee fresh consultations on the specific question that would be put to a referendum.
The ABC has been told the Government and Opposition have been involved in discussions on the makeup of the council with key Indigenous leaders Patrick Dodson, Noel Pearson, Megan Davis and Recognise joint campaign director Tanya Hosch.There’s no time to lose, we’ve got an enormous amount of work still to do,” Ms Hosch said.
“The more people that become aware of this the stronger the support seems to be.”Recognise has not released the crucial state-by-state breakdown of support for constitutional recognition.For a referendum to be successful it would need a national majority as well as the majority of states to be in favour.There is still a concerted push from a small but powerful section of the Government backbench against holding the referendum, Ms Hosch maintains the vote can still be held in May 2017, the date preferred by former prime minister Tony Abbott, despite the challenges posed within that timeframe. “What we are needing now is a concerted effort across the country to make this happen,” she said.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was pressed about his commitment to constitutional change after wrestling the prime ministership from Mr Abbott.