Misrecognition and social inequality: Public relations, Indigenous voice, and the failure of Australia’s 2023 referendum
Tanya Muscat & Katharina Wolf
What the paper says
Australia is home to the oldest known civilisation on Earth, however, the country’s relationship with its Indigenous population has attracted much criticism, including accusations of human rights violations. On 14 October 2023 Australians voted in a nation-wide referendum about whether to change the Constitution to recognise the country’s First Peoples by establishing a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Despite national opinion polls originally indicating widespread support to formally recognise the country’s traditional owners, the referendum did not pass. This paper explores narratives and key frames adopted by both the Yes and the No campaign, providing insights and implications for public advocacy campaigns. It mobilises recognition theory and scholarship on mediated recognition, to consider the role of public relations campaigning via media for social justice and human rights. Ironically, although the Voice sought to formally recognise Australia’s First Peoples – a move that many had argued was long overdue – it was ultimately the voices of Indigenous Australians that were drowned out.
1 citation
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06 |
| M · momentum | 0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.