CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed the failure in the country's first referendum in the 21st century, with voters to decide on whether or not to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

"I never imagined or indeed said that it would be easy. Very few things in public life worth doing are. Nor could I guarantee the referendum would succeed. History told us that only eight out of 44 had done so," said PM Albanese, adding that "and of course, when you do the hard things, when you aim high, sometimes you fall short. And tonight we acknowledge, understand and respect that we have".