OPINION: 3 simple reasons the Voice will make a difference

It's been over two decades since our last referendum to change the Constitution. This year's referendum is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that lies in the hands of the Australian people, writes Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney.

Linda Burney alongside Aunty Marg Walker and Aunty Diane McNaboe at Dubbo Week of Action event. Credit: Minister for Indigenous Australians

What a week!

I’ve travelled across our great country and I’m overwhelmed and heartened by the incredible support among Australians for a Voice for our people.

The Week of Action marked the beginning of conversations, about what the Voice is, why it’s needed and how it will make a difference.

It’s been a chance for people from all walks of life to get involved and be part of an historic movement ahead of the referendum later this year.

The Week of Action took me to Wiradjuri Country visiting Orange, Dubbo and Wellington in the Central West of New South Wales. With the Independent MP Andrew Gee, I met with Aboriginal organisations and Wiradjuri leaders about their hopes for the Voice.

Minister Linda Burney with students and teachers at the Ngurang-gu Yalbilinya on country school in Orange, NSW. Credit: Minister for Indigenous Australians.

We know that the more people learn about the Voice, the history of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and why so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians support this change, the more likely we are to get a resounding ‘Yes’ vote.

“Yes” to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in our Constitution through a Voice.

So what is the Voice, and why is it needed?

The Voice will be a body, made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will give advice to parliament on the issues that affect their communities.  

For instance, if there is legislation that is coming before the Parliament on an issue relating to Indigenous Australians, perhaps – food security or housing in remote Australia – the Voice will be a source of advice on that policy.

The Voice is needed because decades of often well-meaning government policies haven’t worked.

Indigenous Australians are dying nearly ten years younger than non-Indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal boys born in the Northern Territory have a shorter life expectancy than boys born in Iraq and Libya.

The urgent challenges in Alice Springs have brought into sharp focus the complex, multi-layered disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians in remote and regional communities.

New alcohol restrictions legislated by the NT Government are an important step in the right direction. The Albanese Government’s $250 million plan for a Better, Safer Future for Central Australia will also help to improve community safety and enhance support services in a way that ensures locals have input into how the funding is put to use.

That’s because the solutions to so many of these challenges can be found in communities, not in Canberra.

Linda Burney with VACCHO CEO Jill Gallagher and staff during the Week of Action. Credit: Minister for Indigenous Australians.

So as we head to a referendum later this year, there are three important points about how the Voice will make a difference:

1.    Giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities a say in the matters that affect their communities will mean better policies that get better outcomes.

To improve the lives of Indigenous Australians on a range of indicators requires listening to locals and getting advice, whether it be improving health outcomes, fixing overcrowded housing or achieving better educational outcomes.

Listening to people matters.

2.    The Voice referendum will be a unifying moment for Australia.

The Voice will fix the glaring omission in Australia’s Constitution - that fails to recognise the 60,000 years of continuous connection that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have to this country.

It is something all Australians should be proud of.

The last referendum on Indigenous recognition in 1967, is rightly remembered as the most successful national campaign in Australia’s history, securing a ‘Yes’ vote of more than 90%.

As the Uluru Statement from the Heart states: “In 1967 we were counted, today we seek to be heard.”

3.    The Voice will empower communities to take control of their own destinies and future

For too long successive governments, have made policy for Indigenous Australians, not with Indigenous Australians.

The Voice will help ensure local voices are heard, those voices weren’t heard when it came to policies like the Intervention in 2007, and we are still seeing the consequences of that today.

As the PM said at Garma last year, in the years to come we should be able to measure our success: “not just by the number of people who vote for a Voice, but by the lives that the Voice helps to change. The communities it empowers, the opportunities it creates, the justice it delivers, the security it will bring to First Nations people around our country.”

In Naarm, Melbourne hundreds turned out for a Week of Action event to support the Voice. Credit: Minister for Indigenous Australians.

Twenty-four years have passed since a referendum to change the Constitution was held in Australia.

The Constitution is the people’s document. Politicians can’t change it, nor can the Parliament. Only the Australian people can.

And based on what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from people right across the country during the Week of Action, I have great faith in Australians that we will move this country forward.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something truly historic.

Between now and referendum day later this year, I encourage all Australians to be part of the conversation. Talk with your family, friends and colleagues and imagine what our future can look like.

Make your voice heard, so the voices of future generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are heard and listened to.

Linda Burney is Wiradjuri and the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Visit Uluru Dialogue and From the Heart for more information.