DEAR News Of The Area,
MANY questions have been raised regarding the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
‘Don’t we already have enough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations?’ is a common one.
It is true that there are already many Indigenous organisations but Indigenous people are saying that they feel that they are not being listened to and that instead solutions to problems are being imposed on them.
Indeed, the Uluru Statement from the Heart uses the words “the torment of our powerlessness.”
The Uluru Statement proposes an ongoing Voice to parliament as the way to ensure that Indigenous voices are heard in matters that concern them so that they may have some control over their destiny.
Another common question is ‘Isn’t it better to have more Indigenous members of Parliament?’
We currently have eleven Indigenous members of Federal Parliament, which is excellent in regard to diversity.
As members of parliament they are not elected to represent Indigenous peoples; they are elected to represent all the people of their electorate.
At any future election they could well lose their seat to a non-Indigenous person.
The current eleven Indigenous persons in parliament could even dwindle to zero.
A Voice to Parliament would directly and continuously express the specific issues and concerns of Indigenous people.
It is often asserted that Indigenous peoples are not in agreement and that the Voice is not of grassroots Indigenous origin but rather comes only from elite Indigenous people.
It is true that Indigenous people do not all agree on the Voice.
It would be surprising if they did.
However, there is a large and widespread consensus in favour of the proposal.
There has been broad consultation of Indigenous people at the grassroots level leading to a consensus and the Uluru Statement from the Heart is the culmination of this process.
That this process has been followed is one of the strengths of the Voice proposal.
It cannot be said that the Voice is driven by elites or political groups.
The Voice has not emerged as part of the agenda of a particular group or as an idea from a particular political party.
It has emerged as an expression of the wishes of Indigenous peoples and the referendum is in response to their request in the Uluru Statement from the Heart for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
Our Prime Minister described it as a “gracious, patient call for respect and truth and unity”.
Regards,
John GRAY,
Coffs Harbour.