Extract from ABC News
Prime Minster Anthony Albanese has vowed to forge a new way forward to close the gap in life outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, after voters resoundingly rejected recognising the First Australians in the constitution with a Voice to Parliament.
A majority of voters and all states voted No to changing the constitution at Saturday's referendum, which was Australia's first in more than two decades.
The ACT, which is only included in the popular vote, was the only jurisdiction to vote Yes.
"Tonight is not the end of the road and is certainly not the end of our efforts to bring people together," Mr Albanese said on Saturday night.
"The issues we sought to address have not gone away and neither have the people of goodwill and good heart, who want to address them and address them we will."
The Voice to Parliament would have been an advisory body with no power of veto but permanently enshrined in the constitution, meaning a future government of the day could not abolish it without holding another referendum.
It was first proposed after hundreds of Indigenous Australians, who took part in the Uluru Dialogues, issued the Statement from the Heart six years ago.
That statement called for a constitutionally enshrined Voice along with truth telling and treaty.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said the government would announce in the coming months renewed government commitments to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, which includes life expectancy, education and the rates of suicide and disease.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Coalition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who actively campaigned against the referendum, celebrated the result, insisting the vote should have never happened.
But senior figures in the Yes campaign offered a scathing assessment of the No campaign.
"It's very clear that reconciliation is dead," academic Marcia Langton told SBS.
She forecasted it would be at least two decades before Australians were "capable of putting their colonial hatred behind them and acknowledging that we exist", and accused No campaigners of "poisoning" Australians against the Voice.
Thomas Mayo, one of the leading Yes campaigners, said he was devastated.
"We have seen a disgusting No campaign. A campaign that has been dishonest, that has lied to the Australian people, and I'm sure that will come out in the analysis," he said.
"History will reflect poorly on Peter Dutton, [One Nation Leader] Pauline Hanson, all that have opposed this."
Some Indigenous leaders in the Yes campaign have called a week of silence across the country, to grieve and reflect on the outcome of the referendum.
As of late Saturday night, the strongest Yes vote came from the Victorian seat of Melbourne, which Greens leader Adam Bandt represents.
The strongest No vote was the Queensland electorate of Maranoa, which Nationals leader David Littleproud holds.
The results offered echoes of the 1999 republic referendum, when the ACT was the only jurisdiction to vote Yes. Like 24 years ago, more affluent electorates were the most likely to vote Yes.
Mr Albanese said it was his obligation to hold the referendum, having promised it before he became prime minister.
"When you aim high, sometimes you fall short," he said.
But Mr Dutton dismissed the assertion that the referendum had to be held.
"While Yes and No voters may hold differences of opinion, these differences of opinions do not diminish our love for our country or our regard for each other," he said.
"This is the referendum that Australia did not need to have."
Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer, a rare campaigner for Yes in the federal Coalition party room, said it would be "very difficult" for Australia to move forward.
"There has been really terrible things said that are very hard to repair the damage from," she said.
"In some cases, I am not sure how you move forward with those."
Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who quit the Coalition frontbench to champion a Yes vote, said he remained optimistic the "cause for reconciliation will ultimately succeed".
"To every Indigenous Australian I say, this was a vote about the constitution, it was not a vote about you. It is an undeniable fact that you are our land's first peoples and I honour you this night," he said.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe, a leading No campaigner, said she was not surprised by the referendum outcome.
She said Australia needed a treaty with First Nations people before the constitution was changed.
Senator Nampijinpa Price said the focus needed to be on helping the nation's most disadvantaged.
"I realise that much work needs to be done for us to be brought together as a country because it has been such a challenging and heart-wrenching time for many Australians," she said.
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