By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Australia's decision to deny constitutional recognition to its First Peoples could herald a more divisive "Trump-style" politics at the next national election, while pushing the prime minister to pivot to cost of living issues, some analysts said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese misread the public mood, analysts said on Sunday, as he took responsibility for the referendum result, in which only the national capital voted "Yes" from among eight states and territories.
More than 60% of Australians voted "No" to altering the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people through the creation of an Indigenous advisory body.
While Albanese said he respected the decision and his government would seek "a new way forward", some analysts saw the conservative opposition buoyed by its success in opposing the landmark vote.
For Albanese, the referendum loss would be "a personal as well as a political blow – he's very committed to equity for First Nations peoples", said Chris Wallace, a specialist in political history and leadership at the University of Canberra.
Now he is expected to pivot to addressing cost of living issues pressing on voters, which had made it harder to win the referendum, she added.
Australia had rejected the "prime minister's referendum", said opposition party leader Peter Dutton, adding that his conservative Liberal party would look to form policies to take to the next national election, due in 2025.
Dutton had opposed the referendum to cement his political position, and showed himself to be "an effective, even superior campaigner", said Mark Kenny, a professor at the Australian National University.
"He's going after the blue-collar Labor base in the suburbs and regions, informed by the teachings of Trump and Farage," Kenny added. "Australia may be in for a much more aggressive and divided style of politics seen in the U.S. and U.K."
Albanese made an error of judgment in pursuing a referendum that lacked cross-parliamentary support, as Liberal coalition partner the Nationals opposed it a year ago, said Kenny, who is with the university's Australian Studies Institute.
Elected in 1996, Albanese saw the failure of the 1999 referendum for Australia to become a republic. Despite that experience as a lawmaker "he squandered it, misreading the mood spectacularly," Kenny said.
No referendum has passed in Australia without bipartisan backing.