Australia's Brexit Moment: Rejecting Racial Division in the Referendum -Dr. Simon P. Kennedy Lecture

In October 2023, the Australian people said "No" to a proposal to alter the country's constitution. The left-wing Labor Government and a variety of activists, backed by business and political elites, proposed to enshrine a race-based body in Australia's constitutional system, one that they claimed would represent the interests and views of Australia's indigenous people. This proposal was rejected resoundingly at the ballot box, a result that has been called "Australia's Brexit moment." This talk will explore the lead-up to the vote, analyze the result, and explore what it means more broadly for politics in the West.