I’m privileged to represent the seat of Bean, an electorate with boundaries that begin within 10 kilometres of Parliament House, but an electorate whose history extends back thousands of years. It includes many important sites for our First Australians, including the Yankee Hat rock paintings in Namadgi National Park and Birrigai Rock Shelter, which is the oldest known place within the ACT where First Peoples lived.
Australia’s rich and unique history features 65,000 years of continuous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural connection to this land, but our 122-year-old Constitution does not recognise this. This is our chance to fix that.
On 14 October, you will be asked a simple question: Do you support a change to the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?
The decision you make will shape Australia’s future.
Our nation has received the great gift of the Uluru Statement from the Heart from the First Australians of this land. This is a text born of heartbreak and long and continuing suffering, yet marked by an extraordinary generosity of spirit, and open to the possibility that the wounds of our history might be reconciled for the good of all. The Uluru Statement can only truly be heard and enacted when those to whom it is addressed make contact with, and listen with their own heart. This is its gift and challenge to us all.
Embracing this moment and choosing ‘Yes’ is also our best chance of addressing the injustices of the past and creating structural change that will ensure Indigenous communities are listened to.
Countless reports have made it clear that the status quo is not working for Indigenous Australians. A new approach is needed. The idea of the Voice to address these challenges comes from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves, resulting from years of consultation that culminated with the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.
The Voice will be a committee of Indigenous Australians, elected by Indigenous Australians to give advice to government. We know when governments listen to people about issues that affect them, we get better outcomes.
Our government, along with every single State and Territory government, has committed to Constitutional Recognition through a Voice. Legal experts have endorsed it. People on all sides of the Parliament have backed it. Faith groups, sporting codes, local councils, businesses, and unions have embraced it.
At its core it is a simple choice. On 14 October, you can take the once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together, to take the next step forward by embracing the act of recognition and reconciliation or you can choose to close the door on recognition for Indigenous Australians.
I ask you to choose ‘Yes’ for a change for the better.
