Why the 2023 Voice Referendum Failed | Damian Freeman

Reflecting on his pivotal role in the development of a proposal to recognise Australia’s Indigenous peoples in the Constitution, Damien Freeman explains how something that started off as an exercise in settlement politics ended in a failed referendum.

Damien Freeman is a visiting scholar at the PM Glynn Institute. He founded and directs the Governor-General's Prize for the Constitution Education Fund Australia. Together with Julian Leeser MP, he established Uphold and Recognise, a non-profit organisation committed to upholding the Australian Constitution and recognising Indigenous Australians. In 2015, Noel Pearson launched The Australian Declaration of Recognition, a pamphlet written by Freeman and Leeser.

Damien lectures on ethics and aesthetics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and convenes a public conversation series with Dr Simon Longstaff AO at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He is currently working on a project investigating the conservative cast of mind in contemporary Australia, with particular reference to Tony Abbott.

 

Watch here: https://youtu.be/Xzk6zYXxvQ4