Before December, Australians will vote in our first referendum in 24 years. We speak to campaigners for and against the Voice to Parliament.
Whatever your views about the Voice to Parliament Referendum – or maybe you are yet to make up your mind – there are some undeniable facts about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people in Australia. The First Nations people make up three per cent of the population, but are 26 times more likely to be imprisoned as children compared with the rest of the population. Adults are 12.5 times as likely to go to jail. The ATSI mortality rate is well below that of the mainstream, with 61 per cent of deaths before age 65 – compared with 17 per cent of non-ATSI people. Once ATSI hit 40, they have six times the rate of blindness of other Australians.* Some may think the ‘Stolen Generation’ – the practice of forced removal of ATSI children from their families to integrate them into White society – is a thing of the past, but in 2023, ATSI children are being taken from their communities at alarming rates.
It is within this context that in 2017, a representative group of 250 ATSI gathered in Central Australia and wrote The Uluru Statement from the Heart. It asked for ‘constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country,’ and the establishment of a First Nations Voice.
This year, we have heard a lot about the Voice to Parliament Referendum which will likely be held on October 14. The Voice will create a permanent way for ATSI to have input into laws which will affect them. It will have no power to change laws, but operate alongside the Parliament and Government. If the Referendum succeeds, the Constitution will be changed to create a Voice, which would be an advisory group made up of ATSI representatives, chosen by ATSI. It would advise the Federal Government on how laws made by the Parliament would affect ATSI, and allow communities at the coalface to provide solutions to local issues.
Independent MP for North Sydney, Kylea Tink, has been holding forums to give locals more information about the Voice. “When I hear that (Uluru) statement, I hear an invitation for our nation to move forward, to be everything that it could possibly be.
“And any time a question like this is asked of us, it’s actually asking us what sort of country do we want to live in? What sort of population do we want to be, and what sort of future do we want to create for our children?”
Ms Tink says she is ‘very mindful’ that there are ‘very real pressing day-to-day issues for us as people living in this community. The cost of living, education, housing, and affordability, women’s safety’. But she says that there is still ‘space’ to think about Australia’s identity.
Tony Abbott has ‘tried not to be a commentator on politics of the day,’ but argues the Voice would change the Constitution for the ‘worse’. Image credit: Tony Abbott Facebook
“I think that the Voice injects race into our constitution, and that’s wrong.”
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
“I absolutely believe it’s a responsibility of every Australian to get involved in this movement and to, I hope, ultimately accept the invitation that is the Voice. Because I believe as an Australian, we have a responsibility to shape our own nation.”
Former Prime Minister and Member for Warringah Tony Abbott overrode his usual practice of not commenting on current issues to give evidence at the Senate Inquiry on the Voice to Parliament in May. Mr Abbott told North Shore Living that he felt compelled to speak out because changing the Constitution was a serious matter, ‘for keeps’.
Calling the Voice an ‘activist power grab,’ Mr Abbott said he was not opposed to ‘genuine constitutional recognition’ for ATSI people. “But what we’re getting is the Voice to everyone on everything. Instead of a very limited requirement to consult on laws passed under the so-called race power,” he added.
Mr Abbott said the Voice would inject ‘race’ into the Constitution and reinforce the separatism of ATSI: ‘which is at the heart of indigenous disadvantage’. “We need to treat Aboriginal people essentially on the same basis as everyone else is treated.
“If you like Australia, and you think that Australia is a fundamentally good country with very little to be ashamed of, you should vote a resounding no to this Voice.”
While the Federal Liberal Party is not supporting the Voice, NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman has said he will vote yes, and North Shore MP Felicity Wilson is also campaigning as part of the ‘Liberals for Yes’ group.
Well-known indigenous advocate, lawyer Noel Pearson, spoke at one of Kylea Tink’s community forums in July. He told North Shore Living that one of the greatest policy failures of successive governments was the illiteracy of ATSI children in remote communities, with issues of juvenile justice stemming from a breakdown in education.
“Our kids are sometimes four years behind their age group (compared with) the mainstream. That’s just unacceptable. It’s perfectly possible to teach indigenous children to read and count and to succeed in high school.
The Referendum question:
“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
Then the voter writes ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
All Australians aged 18 and over must vote in the Referendum.
“In order to do that, we have to bring these issues to the fore through The Voice, and not let excuses be made about this gap between remote schools and the mainstream.
“If we had better schools (in remote areas) that taught children effectively, we would keep kids in their educational pathway and they would have all the opportunity in the world to take advantage of being an Australian to participate in the economy, have jobs, and realise the dreams they have.”
The Federal Government’s leaflet on the Voice states that the body would have no ‘veto’ power and no authority to direct funds – contrary to some models in the past, such as ATSIC (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission). If passed by the Referendum, the Voice will be a permanent advisory body which a Government could not ignore – but how it works in practice would be up to the Parliament of the day.
Mr Pearson said the foundation of the Voice ‘will be in the communities at the local and regional level’. “It’s those local communities that send people to Canberra to represent the issues that are priorities for them and represent their solutions for tackling problems in their communities.
“We now have a chance to say yes, to include the first peoples of Australia in the Constitution. And I think that will heal our history, but it will also give a fair and just recognition to the place of indigenous people in Australia.
“This will be a new chapter and it’ll be an Australia that is at peace with itself. Australians will look in the mirror and they’ll see the indigenous, they’ll see the British, they’ll see the migrants and they’ll say, ‘we are one mob’.”
*Statistics taken from Australia Law Reform Commission and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
