Australian Voters Confirm: History is Calling
Gabrielle Appleby, Sean Brennan & Megan Davis
26.05.2022
Six weeks ago, on 10 April, two significant events took place. On Ngunnawal country in Canberra, then Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a federal election to be held on 21 May. On Gunggandji country, at Yarrabah in Queensland, members of The Uluru Dialogue and Uluru Youth Network issued the Yarrabah Affirmation to the Australian people, calling with urgency for a referendum to constitutionally enshrine a First Nations Voice.
The time is now
At Yarrabah, two referendum campaigns came together at the Tree of Knowledge, a place where many activists used to gather under the light of hurricane lamps to strategise and the 1967 referendum was planned. Campaigners for the Voice referendum met with Alfred ‘Pop Alf’ Neal OAM, one of the last surviving leaders of the 1967 referendum campaign. That referendum removed a racially discriminatory provision from the Constitution and gave the Commonwealth express power to make national laws in Aboriginal affairs.
More than half a century later, once again History is Calling for the Constitution to be changed, and continue the project of the 1967 referendum. On 21 May, the Australian people elected a government and a Parliament committed to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, starting with a referendum for a constitutionally protected First Nations Voice to Parliament. Today, we are on the cusp of that important step towards Makarrata and a better future for all Australians.
The work is almost done
Of course, securing a YES vote at a referendum is no small challenge, and there will be much work ahead. But a lot of the work to make the vision of the Uluru Statement a reality has been going on for five years, ever since hundreds of First Nations delegates issued it as an invitation to the Australian people.
In fact, the quest for constitutional recognition to empower First Nations people goes back far longer than that, and has been building for decades. Every one of the last seven Prime Ministers, since John Howard in 2007, have committed to constitutional recognition.
To be ready for a referendum, we need answers to the questions: What? How? And When?
The Yarrabah Affirmation explains that we now are now a significant way along to having these answers.
What: Constitutional recognition as meaningful structural reform
For years, politicians in Canberra went back and forth about what constitutional recognition would look like. They established expert bodies and parliamentary committees, but very little concrete progress was made towards a referendum. First Nations feared that recognition would turn into something minimalistic and provide no structural response to their unique position in the Australian state. Eventually, in 2015, a group of prominent First Nations people stepped in. In the Kirribilli Statement, they appealed to the then Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to give First Nations people the chance to define what constitutional recognition should look like. Abbott’s successor, Malcolm Turnbull, established a Referendum Council. The Council oversaw a deliberative process which was Indigenous-designed and Indigenous-led.
That process involved 12 Regional Dialogues of up to 100 First Nations people, held around Australia in 2016-17. At each Dialogue, over three days, traditional owners, organisational representatives and key individuals from the local region worked their way through the options. At the end, they selected 10 delegates to attend a First Nations Constitutional Convention, in the heart of central Australia at Uluru. They also settled on a record of their meeting, for those delegates to take to Uluru. Then, on 26 May 2017, after three days of national discussion, the Convention issued the Uluru Statement from the Heart. On the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, it was an invitation to the Australian people to walk with them in a movement for a better future. The Statement represents an historic and remarkable consensus that emerged from an unprecedented self-determined process.
Over the last five years, Australians in their thousands have responded to the authority and beauty of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. They recognised the extraordinary process and cultural authority that sits behind the Uluru Statement, as well as the good sense and practicality of its reform agenda.
The Uluru Statement clarified what recognition should look like. First, a constitutionally protected Voice to the Parliament, speaking directly to those who make laws and policies that affect First Nations people in their daily lives. Then a Makarrata Commission, set up in legislation to oversee a national process of agreement-making and truth-telling.
Australians across the country have signed on to support the Statement; engaged with their families, friends and colleagues; and written to their local MPs urging them to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Hundreds of corporations, not-for-profits, local governments, faith groups, universities, professional associations and sporting organisations have come on board.
The answer to the what question of recognition was achieved at Uluru, through a remarkable process of collective deliberation and decision-making.
How: Consensus on the constitutional amendment and rules
To nail down how to make this change, the Uluru Dialogue has been working with constitutional experts, lawyers, barristers and former judges from around Australia to determine the wording of the constitutional amendment. The objective was to come up with a simple and transparent proposal for constitutionally protecting the Voice, to put to the Australian people at a referendum.
The change to the Constitution must achieve three things:
It must establish the First Nations Voice, as an enduring form of recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It must describe and protect its primary function of conveying the views of First Nations people to the Parliament and government in the development of policies and laws that affect them.
It must empower Parliament to legislate the detailed design of the First Nations Voice and make necessary amendments over time, to adapt to changing circumstances.
There may be small refinements to negotiate, but basically that work has been done and the words are in a good state to go to the Australian people.
There is also a question of how will the question be put to the Australian people, or, as we are often asked “what will the question be on the ballot?”. This is governed by the Constitution and legislation that sets the rules of conducting a referendum. At the end of last year, a parliamentary committee tabled a report about how best to modernise these rules for a future referendum. The work here, too, is coming together. The latest parliamentary committee’s report confirmed a growing consensus in favour of an independent expert panel to assist the Parliament in setting the referendum question. The report also recommended that the Australian people receive high-quality educational material, to ensure that they are armed with the objective information and analysis necessary to make a good decision at a future referendum.
When:
Thirdly, when should the referendum be held? The Yarrabah Affirmation made two suggestions:
27 May 2023, which will be the 56th anniversary of the 1967 referendum and the 6th anniversary of the Uluru Statement. It would be a convergence of the overwhelming success of 1967 with the historic consensus of 2017.
27 January 2024, the day after Invasion Day/Australia Day.
These dates fall within the next 18 months. This is not an accident. There is an urgency to the reforms called for in the Uluru Statement. They offer a structural change to how laws are developed and provide an opportunity to address the many historical policy failures in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. The result of the election on 21 May also tells us that the Australian people are ready and supportive of this first step of constitutionally establishing the Voice. It is a key moment to capture that momentum and realise that goal.
At the same time, both these dates provide sufficient time for the incoming government to finalise the wording of the amendment, to determine the rules on which the referendum will be conducted, and to pass the necessary legislation to support a referendum. The final detailed legislation that determines the model of the Voice will be passed after that referendum. Further consultation and deliberations with First Nations will be needed after the referendum to ensure the Voice is culturally authoritative and legitimate, which will be a key to its success.
History is calling
The Yarrabah Affirmation said that the stars are aligning. Australia has a new government and a newly elected Parliament, full of representatives who were vocal supporters of the Uluru Statement from the Heart during the election campaign. History now calls those politicians, and the Australian people, to take the first step towards Makarrata and structural change. A First Nations Voice, endorsed by the Australian people during the term of this Parliament, to recognise and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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Megan Davis is a co-chair for the Uluru Dialogue. Gabrielle Appleby & Sean Brennan were part of the pro-bono legal team that supported the Regional Dialogues and First Nations Constitutional Convention.
