Advocates for constitutional change in Australia said they were devastated on Saturday by the defeat of a referendum that would have created an advocacy committee to offer advice to Parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people — the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.

Early counting showed that 57% of voters opposed the Indigenous Voice. Australian Broadcasting Corp. projections found New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia had rejected the amendment.

The Voice needed majorities in each of at least four of the six states as well as a national majority for the referendum to pass.