By Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group

This is the first in a series of articles providing information about the Referendum for a Voice to Parliament, from the Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group who support the Voice.

“I believe we are greatly blessed by First Nations Peoples, whose patience and grace, in spite of appalling treatment since the landing of the British, have offered non-Indigenous people the way forward in a peaceful, truthful and truly wise way.” – Russell Broadbent, Member for Monash, in Statements from the Soul 2023.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is about love and hope. It was developed as a consensus document in 2017 after a lengthy and broad-based consultation with and by First Nations people.

It is the last in a long line of claims and requests, since the nineteenth century, to listen to the voices of First Nations people. This time their appeal is directly to the people of Australia, not to government or politicians, inviting us to walk with them. This is our decision to make.

The three components of the Uluru Statement: Voice, Treaty and Truth, give priority to the Voice, as it underpins the other two.

Implementing a Voice to Parliament requires a change to the Australian Constitution in order for it to be above politics and not able to be removed at the whim of government, which has happened to key First Nations consultative committees several times before.

Our Constitution was written in a very different Australia. We still considered ourselves to be British. Queen Victoria was on the throne. Edmund Barton, the first Prime Minister of the new Federation, believed the doctrine of equality was not meant to include racial equality.

Senator Pat Dodson surmised the Constitution was written in the “spirit of terra nullius”. In other words, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island history did not exist, as if the only culture to be considered was British.

John Howard supported constitutional recognition of First Nations people in 2007.

Russell Broadbent MP, our local Member, has always supported recognition, and is a fervent supporter of the Uluru Statement and the Voice. He argues that our settler fathers broke the Commandments of “you must not steal, murder, or testify falsely against your neighbour”.

The simplest reason for needing the Voice to Parliament is that current policies to Close the Gap aren’t working. Self-determination, or decision-making by First Nations people themselves, has always led to improved outcomes.

The Voice will enable First Nations community representatives, urban, rural and remote, to reflect the needs and priorities from the grassroots.

The Voice will provide better quality information about First Nations communities, leading to better quality laws and policies, better targeted investments, and better outcomes for First Nations people.

It will have no capacity to veto legislation if its advice is not taken. But the ability of Voice members to make representations to the executive (public servants and ministers) will allow their views to be considered from the start of drafting new laws, rather than at the end.

Australia has been handed a precious gift of 60,000 years of history and culture to be proud of. We have an opportunity for a historical unifying moment that will be nation-building.

Noel Pearson, well-known First Nations spokesperson, says this country doesn’t make sense without this recognition. It completes the picture of the longest surviving culture in the world, enriched by British institutions and “the adorning gift of multiculturalism”.

The Uluru Statement is asking the Australian people for a Voice, first and foremost so that the lives of First Nations people can be improved. This is the first step, with Treaty and Truth-telling to follow.

The next article will deal with how the referendum works and how the Voice will work, as much as is known. More details will be determined by Parliament after the referendum.