Australia's longest-serving Prime Minister, John Howard said colonisation was "the luckiest thing that happened" to the country.
Howard's statement comes ahead of an upcoming historic referendum on indigenous recognition that has been under debate for a while now.
The referendum if successful, would be bringing change in Australia's constitution which is the first time in 56 years, as it offers First Nations people a greater say over the laws and policies that impact them.
Howard while speaking to the media, said that colonisation was "inevitable" and he also reportedly praised the British to be "infinitely more successful and beneficent colonisers" than their European counterparts.
He made a prediction that the Voice to Parliament initiative would not be approved, resulting in a new source of conflict on how to support Indigenous people. He also accused those in favour of the initiative of not effectively promoting it to the Australian public.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the beginning of 2023, announced a referendum on the first plebiscite of Australia since 1999, the Voice. Reportedly if it is successful the result would benefit the First Nations people in Australia more than White Australians. The First Nations face low life expectancy and disproportionately poor health and education outcomes.
Opponents argue that the Voice is primarily a symbolic gesture that will not bring about any significant change and may even weaken the current government structures in Australia. As the debate gets lengthier, reportedly, recent polling has shown that public support for the Voice is declining.
History of John Howard's tenure
John Howard has been a very influential conservative figure in the country and his support for the No campaign as a conservative is significant. But his legacy of treating indigenous matters remains controversial.
According to a report by BBC, Under his leadership, the government negatively impacted the land rights of First Nations peoples, put a hold on the enforcement of Australia's racial discrimination act, and declined to offer an apology to the Stolen Generations - who were the tens of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children snatched from their families by the government until the mid-1960s.
In 2007, he orchestrated "the Intervention" which was a set of policies for Australia's military that was deployed to seize control of daily life in 73 remote Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory.
The scheme, which was implemented after a government report on the sexual abuse of children in Aboriginal communities, has since been disbanded. However, it faced criticism for being coercive and culturally insensitive.
During his recent interview, Howard defended the policy and said it was "a good old-fashioned dose of proper governance". He added that the success of the Voice referendum would be able to prevent government interference in Indigenous communities.
Amidst the controversy that has taken hold of the official No campaign for the referendum, Howard has made his remarks.
According to the report, this week, a leader received calls to resign after reiterating that Indigenous Australians should take blood tests to prove their ancestry in order to receive welfare payments.
Recently, the campaign faced criticism for running a newspaper ad that was deemed to be using a racist stereotype. The ad featured a full-page cartoon that showed a well-known Indigenous Voice advocate performing a dance for monetary gain.
Some prominent members of the No campaign have been accused of knowingly spreading misinformation about the referendum..
