As Australia votes, indigenous people press call for inclusion in constitution

Gwenda Stanley, an Indigenous Australian of Gomeroi descent, stands by a campfire at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a site of protest since 1972, in Canberra, Australia, May 4, 2022. Picture taken May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Activists at one of the world's longest-running protests for the rights of indigenous people are not pinning their hopes for change on Australia's May 21 general election.

The election campaign has been dominated by debate about rising prices, COVID-19 and climate change, with the plight of Australia’s 700,000 or so indigenous people, who track near the bottom of its 25 million citizens on almost every economic and social indicator, far from the top of the agenda.