Nadia Jade
Something has to give.
My heart breaks with every death in custody. The horrors being visited on young First Nations people who make up the overwhelming amount of incarcerated teenagers. The bodies of First Nations children at schools and missions in NSW and WA, and no doubt other places. Aboriginal and Tores Strait Islander people continue to suffer the worst effects of colonisation, with no reprieve. The missing First Nations women who are never reported on. Cassius Turvey. Kumanjayi Walker. None of this is new to us. We all know what’s going on.
Our dark history shames us. But we have a chance to each and every one of us help make a bright and blak future. I’m tired of looking at Australia through a deficit lens. I want a powerful strong nation full of joy and hope and building on strengths. It’s time to change the narrative.
The Voice has been specifically asked for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the first petition from First Nations people presented directly to the Australian people. Not to our government, but to us. The Statement asks for Truth, Treaty and Voice.
Treaty between nations. Truth, or Makarrata, the telling of the stories as they are. And Voice. A voice to Parliament, that represents the interests of First Nations people. A Voice that cannot be taken away.
The reason why this is a referendum, a constitutional vote, is that when we have previously had bodies like ATSIC, these were able to be disbanded on the whim of the government of the day. The Voice needs to be enshrined in our constitution so it cannot be disbanded if a politician has a bad week.
I’d like to address some of the challenges I have heard, from people who are unsure.
Some think that the Voice is tokenistic. Professor Megan Davis spoke about this, and spoke of the influence of a legitimate Voice to Parliament. The requests will be nonbinding on the government of the day, but will lend legitimacy, and high profile, to the most important issues of equity for First Nations people. It will be harder for governments to ignore, or obfuscate, on these issues.
Some prefer Treaty first, and think this is where the energy should be. It is not Voice OR Treaty, it is Voice AND Treaty. One does not preclude the other. And the fact is, Treaty is underway in many places, and will come with or without Voice. The Victorian government is one of the furthest along in Treaty negotiations, and these will continue with or without this vote. But the Voice will likely not come again.
Others maintain that the entire system of government in Australia is illegitimate, and therefore what is the point of a Voice to an illegitimate power, and that is certainly a perspective with some validity. However this ‘illegal’ system holds the power of the day, whether you consider it legitimate or not, and working to make it more equitable can have powerful benefit in the here and now.
The Voice referendum offers only a binary of options. Yes or No. There is no such thing as a progressive no. Every single no will be taken as a support for the worst of the ill intentions of right in this country. Be very clear, a vote for no, even made with the best intentions, is a vote for Peter Dutton’s no, for Pauline Hansen’s no. A vote for no is not a vote for Lidia Thorpe’s vision of no, although I only wish it could be.
‘No’ will empower the racist undercurrent of Australia, which hides behind a cry of ‘no more division’ whilst maintain the status quo of discrimination and separation.
Our First Nations people are bright, smart, passionate, talented, full of joy and a great gift to us all, as everyone who is friends with them knows. Some of the most intelligent people I know are First Nations. It’s mad that we live in a place that doesn’t value all the good we can gain from a strong friendship and equitable foundation with our First People.
In the 1967 referendum, Australians voted overwhelmingly in favour of the mandate for Aboriginal people. Australians want to do the right thing.
A vote for no is vote for more of the same. But something has to give. The right thing is easy to see this time. It’s a vote for change, a vote for a Voice, a vote for opportunity and possibility, a vote for Yes.