CANBERRA - 21 June 2021
Deputy Speaker,
In May 2017, the First Nations National Constitutional Convention produced The Uluru Statement from the Heart.
It was the product of extensive consultation and dialogue.
It represented a real coming together of voices and perspectives, and was a real moment in our nation’s history.
Here we had a consensus document on a way forward.
It was a way to address reconciliation, sovereignty, and the place of First Nations peoples within our national political fabric.
I’ve always felt that the Uluru Statement is a very important piece of Australian political writing, and a critical moment in the ongoing development of our nationhood.
One of the central elements to the Statement from the Heart is the call to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution.
Allow me to quote from it:
“We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.
“When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish.
“They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.
“We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.”
Deputy Speaker, leadership is about knowing when to act, when to respond to the call of history and destiny.
How did the Government respond to this important moment?
Let’s recall the words of Malcom Turnbull, in his joint statement with George Brandis and Nigel Scullion from October 2017:
“The Government does not believe such a radical change to our Constitution’s representative institutions has any realistic prospect of being supported by a majority of Australians in a majority of states.”
Forget history, forget the consensus of the First Nations National Constitutional Convention, forget the will of the First Nations people.
It’s too hard, so we won’t bother, is what they’re saying.
We can also read into this an element of timidity.
The then Prime Minister didn’t want to pick a fight with his party room, regardless of how important the issue was.
Too bad those opposite decided to get rid of him anyway.
Deputy Speaker, despite slamming the door on what the Statement actually called for, the Government has engaged in a consultative process on the design of an Indigenous Voice.
We are currently in the midst of stage two of that process.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency tells us that over 3,000 submissions were contributed to the consultation process between January and May this year.
That’s a mix of written submissions and verbal submissions provided at public consultation sessions.
They can all be found on the NIAA website, and there appear to be 3024 submissions posted there.
What these submissions say is incredibly important.
Equally important is that the Government takes into account and follows the majority consensus arising out of the submissions.
Because if the Government ignores what emerges from the submissions, what was the point of the consensus at all?
The First Nations National Constitutional Convention and the various First Nations voices that have contributed to this process have acted in good faith with the best interests of their communities at heart.
The Government needs to reciprocate this in its actions.
I offer two questions to the Minister:
- It is my understanding that up to 80% of the submissions support the enshrinement of the Indigenous voice in the constitution.
If this is not the case, then how many submissions do support the enshrinement of the Indigenous voice into our constitution?
- If the figure of supporting submissions is as high as 80%, will the Government commit to listening to the people and acting to enshrine the Indigenous voice in our nation’s constitution?
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ENDS
