Aussies to Vote on Recognizing Aborigines

Australia is planning a referendum on whether to officially recognize indigenous people in the country's constitution for the first time. Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the move as a "once-in-50-year opportunity" to heal the government's relationship with Aborigines and improve their living conditions, the BBC reports.

"This will be a long, hard journey but it's the journey that will mark our maturity as a nation," Aboriginal leader Mick Gooda said, noting that the country had "lost momentum" after its historic apology to Aborigines in 2008. One prominent indigenous activist, however, dismissed the move as a political ploy from an unpopular government. "If white Australia wanted to make a genuine attempt at incorporating our true history into the constitution and reflecting some sort of genuine apology to Aboriginal Australians, then I'd say yes," he told AAP. (More Australia stories.)