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NBA: Shaquille O'Neal to support Australian Indigenous 'Voice' campaign

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="From Shaquille O" Instagram="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/sports/08/27/nba-shaquille-o-neal.jpg"/><figcaption>From Shaquille O&#x27;Neal&#x27;s Instagram page</figcaption></figure></div>American basketballer Shaquille O&#x27;Neal will throw his support behind the Australian government&#x27;s campaign to create an Indigenous &quot;Voice to Parliament&quot;, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Saturday.The 7-foot-1 NBA Hall of Famer, who is in the country on a speaking tour, met with Albanese and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on Saturday in Sydney.O&#x27;Neal requested the meeting to learn more about the push to recognise Australia&#x27;s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the first time in the nation&#x27;s constitution, said the prime minister.Albanese said his government had sought to &quot;mobilise support for the &#x27;Voice to Parliament&#x27; by talking with sporting figures&quot; and that O&#x27;Neal had agreed to appear in videos for the campaign.&quot;Whatever you need from me, you just let me know,&quot; the four-time NBA champion told Albanese at a joint press conference.Albanese&#x27;s centre-left government, which swept to power in May elections, has pledged to hold a national referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition and the creation of a &quot;Voice to Parliament&quot; in its first term.The &quot;Voice&quot; would be a permanent body established to provide advice to the country&#x27;s parliament on issues affecting the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.In Australia, the vast majority of referendums -- including a 1999 vote for the country to become a republic -- fail to pass the 50 percent support mark required at the ballot box.&quot;There is always a risk,&quot; Albanese conceded Saturday, but added that not holding the vote would not advance the cause either.&quot;There is a new dawn coming in this country,&quot; Burney said. &quot;I have been involved in Aboriginal affairs for 45 years. And I have never felt optimism, I have never seen the curiosity that non-Aboriginal Australians have about truth (that I do now).&quot;The most resounding referendum win in Australia occurred in 1967, when more than 90 per cent of voters cast a ballot in favour of Aboriginal people being counted as part of the nation&#x27;s population.mmc/dgi/cwl<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

American basketballer Shaquille O'Neal will throw his support behind the Australian government's campaign to create an Indigenous 'Voice to Parliament', Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Saturday.