OPINION: Australians will see through the tricks and mind games of Voice naysayers

I’m confident that when Australians vote on the Voice they will do the right thing by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and leave the oppressors in the Stone Age where they belong, writes Jill Gallagher.

Jill Gallagher says our voice was taken from us on Invasion Day in 1788. We're simply asking for it back.

Each year as January 26 approaches, the media cycle invariably focuses its attention on Invasion Day.

As a senior Aboriginal leader, I am often asked for my thoughts and views.

In recent months I have been disgusted by the repeated calculated attempts by some politicians to interfere with, delay, and essentially hijack Australia’s path towards enshrining an Aboriginal Voice into Australia’s constitution.

It’s well over two centuries since the brutal and rapid colonisation of Aboriginal land commenced.

Diseases were introduced. Children were taken from their parents and Community. Fathers were locked up. Then of course there were the massacres.

No doubt there have been some positive steps forward over the years.

They want us to be 'silent, voiceless and powerless'

In 1967 Australians voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and include them in the census.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s 2008 Apology was another encouraging moment.

However, the recent opposition and political games around the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution show that there are still individuals who want to suppress the advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

To put it simply – there are still individuals in positions of power who do not want my people to be a part of this country.

They want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be silent, voiceless, and powerless.

Jill Gallagher says she is disgusted with the political games around the proposed Voice to Parliament. Credit: Supplied: VACCHO

When our lands were invaded our people were completely disempowered. Our ways of knowing, being and doing – our Culture – our ways of life were taken from us.

We were told when to eat. We were told when to go to sleep.

We were told whether we could own property or not.

I’d like to remind the leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, and the leader of the National Party, David Littleproud, that Aboriginal people fought in the two world wars. They were not eligible for soldier settlements.

All the disempowerment. The complete lack of opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All of the dispossession. The genocides that have been committed over the last 250 years.

None of this can be denied.

It's time to stop the fearmongering

Smug and calculated requests for “additional detail” are ignoring the fact that many of Australia’s 44 proposed constitutional changes since 1906 were not heavy on every single finite detail to allow for greater flexibility.

As Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey recently highlighted in media reports – we do not want things “frozen” into the constitution without flexibility.

I’m also aware of some of the opposition to the Voice from within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. From my perspective, this debate and discussion amongst Community is a healthy one – and perfectly normal.

It is ludicrous for people to expect the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to agree on every single issue.

To me, the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the establishment of a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the Constitution is centred around empowerment.

It’s about returning that empowerment to our people.

It’s about returning that hope to our people. Hope is such a vital ingredient.

Our Boorai – our children – our future generations need that hope!

Hope that we, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, have some standing in this country.

A real standing – a standing that governments cannot simply get rid of at their whim.

It’s time for the Littleprouds and the Duttons of this country to stop the political games. It’s time to stop the delay tactics. It’s time to stop the fearmongering.

It’s time for real, meaningful, constitutional reform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

I do have hope.

We're simply asking for it back

Only two months ago I spoke to a group of non-Indigenous people who were older than me in what is considered a wealthy and conservative part of Melbourne.

We had a back-and-forth discussion about the Uluru Statement of the Heart and the proposed Aboriginal Voice to parliament.

I was blown away by the level of engagement and support that these individual people expressed.

What impressed me the most is that they were willing to listen – really listen. And they were willing to learn.

As I returned to my car I had an uplifting feeling – it was a feeling of hope.

Hope that Australians are starting to look beyond the games and the negativity of the individuals who continue to prevent the advancement of Aboriginal people.

The individuals who are happy to take a back seat and watch the legacy of invasion and the legacy of racism continue in this country as the status quo.

I’m confident that in September when Australians head to the polls to cast their vote on the Voice, they will do the right thing by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and leave the oppressors in the Stone Age where they belong.

Our voice was taken from us on Invasion Day in 1788. We’re simply asking for it back.

Jill Gallagher AO is a Gunditjmara woman who has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation since 2001.