Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I acknowledge the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, on whose lands we're meeting today. I say to the member for Berowra: you've been very generous in your remarks, but I might just make the observation that there was a generosity of spirit involved in working on this committee. This meant us parking our ideologies at the door and trying to come to an agreement, and perhaps even compromise on some of the issues raised. I want to thank you for your leadership, in partnership with Senator Dodson. Pat's a senior man in every sense, but I think you were able to work with him in a very constructive way to bring us to a point where we've got a report that I think the parliament can be proud of. It won't be agreed, as we know, as not everyone external to the parliament will agree with the recommendations. But I think no-one can devalue the intent and commitment of the committee members to try to get to a point where we could recommend to the parliament in a bipartisan way the acknowledgment for a voice and a process for getting it established. I want to thank you for that most particularly—so thank you.

In his contribution, the member for Berowra canvassed in many ways the depth of the report. But I do want to go to the foreword of the report, which is co-signed by the member for Berowra and Senator Dodson. At the beginning of the report they say:

Beyond the poetry of the Statement from the Heart is the prose of political reality—the need to ensure that our recommendations provide for a form of constitutional recognition that is legitimate and acceptable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as our parliamentary colleagues across the spectrum, and ultimately to the Australian people.

And there is the challenge. There has been some criticism of those of us on the committee for not adopting a view that we should immediately go to a referendum and not go through a process of co-design prior to the referendum process. Clearly, in the context of this parliament, that would not succeed. Whilst it's clear that we on the Labor side of the parliament have committed ourselves to a referendum in the next term of government, if we're successful at the forthcoming election, that is not the case with the government. And for a referendum to be successful, it is important that we do whatever we possibly can to inveigle the current government, and potentially the future opposition, to support a proposition that can be successful at a referendum. That's the challenge that we have.

It's absolutely legitimate for people to have the view, as has been expressed, that the priority ought to be given to a referendum first, prior to the question of the voice itself being properly settled. That's a valid position, but it's not one that we've proposed in these recommendations. It's not one that I think would be successful. Nevertheless, there is an absolute necessity for us to see the reality of the voice come to fruition. For too long now, since the demise of ATSIC—bearing in mind the work that the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples has undertaken, but putting that aside—there has not been any real representative voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across this country.

One of the things that is very clear, and something that we in Labor are committed to, is that we need to go back to the regions across this great continent of ours and talk to people in their communities and in the regions about how they perceive the voice developing and what the question for constitutional reform should look like. The member for Berowra commented that there were 18 different proposals for the question about reforming the Constitution. Indeed, my good friend Senator Dodson and I posited one. We suggested—we did talk to a few people about this!—that a simple process for the referendum would be to say that this is what we want:

1 There shall be a First Nations Voice to Parliament;

2 The Voice shall not be a third chamber of the Parliament;

3 The Voice shall be advisory only and its advice will not be justiciable; and

4 Its powers and functions shall be determined by the Parliament of Australia.

That encapsulates quite neatly the aspiration from the people who were behind that great, coherent process around the Statement from the Heart. I believe that it is that sort of approach that will get recognition at some point. But in the meantime there is a lot of work to be done.

We need, as a parliament, to go back to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia to ultimately get what this co-design process will look like. I accept most profoundly the words of the member for Berowra when he commented on what this co-design process should be, but it's very important that we understand that handing down the tablets from on high to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across this country does not work. It has never worked and it will not work. We have to go back to the people and talk to them in their communities and allow them the courtesy of being able to make a contribution to this process in a way that they think is appropriate. If we do that, I am very confident that we can get a consensus around what the design of a voice should be and that we can settle on a question to be put to the Australian people. That is our quest.

The member for Berowra referred to previous approaches to constitutional change. I am disappointed that the other approaches—that the expert panel, for example, proposed—were not picked up by the Statement from the Heart. But, nevertheless, we are now on a road that I think is going to take us to a point where we will get a successful referendum, provided that we're prepared to work cooperatively together. When I talk about cooperation, I don't mean just working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and giving them the lead; we need to understand and comprehend that, if this is ever to be successful, then we have to get our friends across the chamber to come with us. I'm sure if they see the strength of support that there is within the general community for the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution and for a voice to be described, they will see the inevitability of a successful referendum and come on board. That is not to say there won't be critics, but it is important to us that we do the right thing by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, at last, and give them the voice they properly deserve in our Constitution.

A series of recommendations have been made, and they speak for themselves, but one of them that I think is not really properly appreciated is recommendation 4:

The Committee also recommends that the Australian Government consider the establishment, in Canberra, of a National Resting Place, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remains which could be a place of commemoration, healing and reflection.

The issue of truth-telling is really very important to this nation. An ossuary or a keeping place here in Canberra would, I think, be a vital part in telling the story. We need to hope that communities around this country will see the challenge of accepting and understanding their past, our past and our collective responsibility to address the past, not in any sense of guilt but understanding the reality of what happened. If we do that, I am absolutely confident that the Australian community will support us in our endeavours to ensure that the voice is constructed in an appropriate way and that we get constitutional recognition through a successful referendum process.

I thank the secretariat for their work on the committee. Most particularly I thank the committee members. I mentioned the co-chairs earlier, but I do want to pay particular tribute to the member for Barton and Senator McCarthy, who came along this road and provided great insight, intellectual capacity and cultural experience and knowledge and background, which helped us in our deliberations in a very important way. Thank you.

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