*Published in the West Australian, 16 February 2023
Support for an enshrined Voice in the Constitution is not a left or right-wing political issue.
Although the Liberal Party is often painted by the left, unfairly so, as a party which doesn’t care about Indigenous issues, the record of history tells a different story. It was a Liberal prime minister, Harold Holt, who successfully advocated for and passed the 1967 referendum, changing the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Indigenous people and include them in the census.
The Liberal Party has had many firsts. The first Indigenous member of Parliament, first Indigenous senator, first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives, first Indigenous minister and first Indigenous cabinet minister.
Closing the gap requires the support of both sides of the aisle. If we are going to propose the inclusion of the Voice in our Constitution the Australian public should be treated with respect. Australians have a right to ask the Government commonsense questions.
Questions such as: who will be eligible to serve on the body, how many people will serve on the body, what are its functions and powers and who does it answer to?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made one concession, after months of holding out, to allow for a Yes and No campaign pamphlet to be distributed outlining each camp’s view. There will always be commentators who will regard those opposing constitutional change as stuck in their ways. I am not interested in being distracted by that noise.
Clearly, urgent change is required from our current business-as-usual approach to ensure we can improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
And when we consider the track record of how successful constitutional change has been in the past, with only eight out of 44 referendums successful, we cannot risk being vague on the details.
Although some say our PM is hopeful that Australians will vote Yes based on the “vibe” of the Voice, I think details matter.
In WA, our regional and remote communities are at breaking point. Our hospitals, police force, community organisations and local councils are literally crying out for help. The issues that have been plastered across the national media regarding Alice Springs, although tragic, are also occurring here in WA.
The Voice, if implemented correctly, could provide a vehicle for Indigenous Australians to have their say in how national policy affects local challenges.
It’s about consulting with Indigenous leaders out bush rather than the views of a select few from the city. This is inherently a liberal way of thinking, and we need that in WA now more than ever.
The first step in the process for the Voice, according to the Calma-Langton report - a report which laid out in detail how a national voice model would operate - is to introduce the Voice at a local and regional level. To date, the PM has failed to confirm that this is their proposed model. He insists that the Voice will unite the nation.
Without further detail, it will only divide us.
Have those in Canberra learnt nothing from their past failures?
I thought the point of the Voice was to get away from bureaucrats in Canberra telling individual Indigenous communities what is best for them?
This week marks the 15-year anniversary of the Stolen Generations apology. As put by the Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, we are barely any closer to closing the gap compared to where we were 15 years ago. In fact, in some areas we have moved backwards. The PM could see this for himself by meeting with relevant organisations when he visits Port Hedland, as I recommended in my recent letter to him.
But remember PM, it’s not enough just to turn up. Actions speak louder than words.
