PM to regional Queensland: You know what it’s like to be ignored
I’ve spent a lot of time in Queensland and I’ve learned over the years that whether you’re building a new bridge, upgrading a road or investing in new medical services, the best way for Government to deliver for local communities is to always start by listening to the locals.
When you listen, you get better results.
You also save money because you build what’s actually needed and you invest in what really works.
That’s what the referendum on October 14 is about: recognition and listening, so we get better results.
Voting Yes will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our constitution, it will celebrate the fact that our country is home to the oldest culture on earth.
Voting Yes is about recognition and it’s about listening.
Listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, so we can achieve better results for their communities and for their children.
The idea of the Voice comes from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves.
It’s the product of years of listening and consultation, right across the country.
Over the years it has been supported by people from both sides of politics.
The Voice will be a committee of Indigenous Australians, chosen by Indigenous communities, who will give advice to Government on how we can get better results in Indigenous health, education and employment.
There will be a balance of men and women and a focus on representing remote communities, including the Torres Strait Islands.
The Voice is a non-binding advisory committee.
It won’t have the power to overrule parliament or block laws.
It won’t distribute funding or run programs.
Its only power will be the power of its ideas.
It will bring to Canberra the good advice, the local knowledge and the practical experience that too many politicians have overlooked for too long.
If you’re reading this in regional Queensland, you know how hard it can be to have your voice heard.
You know how tough it can be for a good idea to travel the distance from your home to Parliament House.
You know how frustrating it is to come up against the attitude that ‘Canberra knows best’.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this has overwhelmingly been the story of the last 122 years.
Governments from both sides of politics doing things to Indigenous Australians or doing things for Indigenous Australians but not doing things with Indigenous Australians.
This is the approach that has given us an 8 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; a suicide rate twice as high, Aboriginal communities in Queensland suffering from diseases that have been virtually eliminated everywhere else in the world.
This is the broken system that means a young Indigenous man is more likely to go jail than go to university.
Voting No means none of this will change.
It means the same waste, the same failures and more money spent on things that don’t work.
Voting Yes is Australia’s chance to fix the mess.
This is where Indigenous Australians are appealing to you, the people of Queensland, to your kindness and your common sense.
Queenslanders are generous people, fair-minded and warm-hearted.
You know that communities a long way from Canberra need help to have their voices heard.
Above all, you understand that when something isn’t working, you don’t wring your hands and hope it will get better on its own, you roll-up your sleeves and do something to fix it.
On October 14, I ask you to roll-up your sleeves and write Yes.
It’s the fair thing to do, the right thing to do and the practical thing to do.
This opinion piece was first published in the Courier Mail on Friday, 6 October 2023.