Seize the chance for a better future for us all
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of meeting the Anangu women who painted the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Sitting with them in the red dirt in the centre of our continent, I thought about how remarkable their artwork is.
Not only does it match the power of the words it surrounds, its greatest beauty is that leaves room for all of us to do what Australians have done so many times before: seize the chance for a better future. And we can do that by voting Yes.
Yes means recognising Indigenous Australians as the original inhabitants of this continent.
Yes means listening to them on matters that affect them so we get better outcomes. And as the Solicitor-General put it, Yes will enhance our democracy.
Everything about how the voice will operate will be decided by parliament. Each elected representative – your local federal member, your senators – will help shape it. This is how parliament works. Nothing will change that.
But when it comes to making policies that affect only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the voice will give parliament a chance to work better.
It boils down to a simple act: listening. When a government is preparing to make a decision, its members strive to ensure it is an informed decision.
We get advice from experts. We listen to the wisdom of those on the ground.
It’s more effective than guesswork, and a lot cheaper.
Yet, inexplicably, such basic due diligence has not been applied to policies that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Rather than listening to the people who could guide them towards the best results, governments of all persuasions have wasted billions in a muddle of good intentions that haven’t gotten results.
This referendum is our chance to get it right.
It will only be when we at last listen properly to Indigenous voices that we can close the gap that runs like a chasm through the heart of our country.
Diseases eradicated from most of the planet are a bleak reality in many Indigenous communities.
The starkest statistic is the fact that on average, the life of an Indigeno.us Australian is eight years shorter than a non-Indigenous Australian. Each statistic is a name, a face, a loved one, an ocean of grief.
A No vote means no change, just a broken status quo. No is the situation we are living now.
But as Evonne Goolagong Cawley put it, today is our chance to ensure it isn’t the future.
Yes means rejecting the option of doing nothing. That is no option at all. Yes means recognising this is the best chance of a way forward we’ve ever had.
And because Australians are a fair, compassionate and courageous people, I believe we’re ready to take this step together.
With Yes, all Australians can win.
This opinion piece was first published in The Australian on Saturday, 14 October 2023.