SYDNEY (Reuters) - An&nbsp;Indigenous&nbsp;senator in Australia was targeted with threats and racial abuses in a video on social media, just days before the country votes in a&nbsp;referendum&nbsp;on whether to constitutionally recognise its&nbsp;Aboriginal&nbsp;and Torres Strait Island people.
Australians will vote on Oct 14, asked if they support a change to the constitution to include a "Voice to Parliament", an&nbsp;Indigenous&nbsp;committee to advise parliament on matters affecting&nbsp;Aboriginal&nbsp;and Torres Strait Island people.
A video published online showed a man in a balaclava claiming to be from a neo-Nazi group, burning the&nbsp;Aboriginal&nbsp;flag, performing a Nazi salute, and threatening Senator Lidia Thorpe.
"Where is my support? Where is my protection in this country?" Thorpe asked during a news conference in Melbourne.
"I'm not hiding for the next nine days. You are going to hear from me. I&rsquo;m not scared," she said.
The video has since been taken down.&nbsp;Australian&nbsp;Federal Police (AFP) said it was investigating the matter.
Racist threats against&nbsp;Aboriginal&nbsp;people, accounting for just about 3.8% of the population, has been growing in the lead up to the&nbsp;referendum, fuelled by misinformation and fear about the "Yes" campaign.
Thorpe is campaigning for a "No" vote and calling for a treaty between the government and&nbsp;Indigenous&nbsp;people first, similar to what exists in New Zealand and Canada.
Supporters of the Voice&nbsp;referendum, the "Yes" campaigners, say the proposal unites the nation and give much-needed recognition to the 65,000 year-old&nbsp;Aboriginal&nbsp;culture, while the opposite "No" campaigners either argue that it hands excessive powers to the&nbsp;Indigenous&nbsp;body or that it will be toothless.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was contacted by Thorpe and he responded on the first opportunity, and also spoke to the police.
"I've seen the video that was referred to that is threatening towards Senator Thorpe and towards the government, and the sort of Nazi rhetoric and statements that are in that video have no place in the discourse in&nbsp;Australian&nbsp;political life," Albanese said, when asked about the matter at a news conference later in the day.
Aboriginal&nbsp;people track below national averages on most socio-economic measures and suffer disproportionately high rates of suicide, domestic violence and imprisonment. Their life expectancy is about eight years lower than non-Indigenous&nbsp;people.
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(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Australian Aboriginal leader threatened ahead of referendum on Indigenous rights