The Voice: Why Australia trails New Zealand on Indigenous journey - BBC News

Australia will soon hold a historic vote - its neighbour is well ahead on recognising Indigenous people.

23 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, The exhibition of Australia's First Peoples art in New Zealand's biggest city has stirred discussion of the two nations' different Indigenous historiesBy Frances MaoBBC News in AucklandIn an Auckland art gallery this week, visitors gazed at the largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever showcased in New Zealand.

In the exhibition's final room, themed Resistance and Colonisation, observers stood back to assess a series of statements pasted on the wall by artist Vernon Ah Kee. His 2002 work, If I Was White, relays his experience as an Aboriginal Australian man in his own country:

"If I was White I could wear a suit and tie and not look suspicious. If I was White I could shop in luxury stores and not look suspicious."

"If I was White I would not have to live in a country that hates me. If I was White I would have a country."

Standing there reading the panels, Debbie May, 65, turned to her friend Wan, a 25-year-old Chinese immigrant to New Zealand, and explained that neighbouring Australia had a referendum on Indigenous people coming up, called the Voice.