Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

The referendum that Australians will have a say on later this year is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to address the injustices of the past and an opportunity to create change to deliver a better future for this country. Before I contribute to this debate, I want to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which this parliament meets, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I also want to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands covered by the electorate of Cowan, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation.

Let's take a moment to reflect on that word 'respect'. It's a simple word—the subject of a lot of famous songs—but much more complex in practice. When we acknowledge country and pay our respects to the traditional owners, it shouldn't just be lip service. It shouldn't just be something automatic that we do because we have to. It should be a real recognition, a substantive recognition, a heartfelt recognition, an authentic recognition of their unique relationship with the lands and the waterways that has lasted for 65,000 years and has endured violence, cruelty and dispossession. It should be a moment to show that we acknowledge this connection and we respect this connection, in every meaning of the word.

Respect is central to the proposed referendum to enshrine an Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution. It's about respectfully recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of Australia—something that was denied them and continues to be denied them—with 65,000 years of history and a continuous connection to this land. It's about respectfully listening to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when it comes to the laws and the policies that we enact in this place that affect them.

Those laws and policies don't affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the same way that they affect me. I take the point that the previous speaker made that when a law or policy is made it affects him as well. Sure, laws and policies affect us all, but they affect us differently. A law or policy affects me differently than it does a First Nations person living in Carnarvon in Western Australia. That is the point to be made. When we do make laws and policies, we need to understand how they impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people differently. The only way that we can do that is to listen to them—to really listen and to really respect them.

I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and to address that there is a whole lot of misinformation and fearmongering that has, sadly, found its way into this conversation and this debate about the constitutional alteration, on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. There is a lot that has been falsely said about there not being enough information on the Voice, as the previous member waxed lyrical about. That is simply not true. I'd like to put it down to wilful ignorance on the previous member's part, because the fact is that there is a plethora of information available—and in multiple languages, might I add. The Uluru Statement from the Heart itself has been translated into more than 60 languages. Information on the Voice is available online, in multiple languages. And let me say this: if you can google a recipe for a chicken curry, you can google the Voice and you can find the answers to all of those questions that we keep getting told there are no answers to. All the information is out there. Not having enough information should not be an excuse. And, quite frankly, it is the position of those who say 'no' to continue to say that there is not enough information, in order to have an excuse to oppose the Voice. It's there. It's free. It's available. It's accessible.

The claims by those opposite that there is no information, and that this is something new, ignore the fact that the Voice itself has been the subject of discussion for at least a decade—that First Nations people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, have been calling for a voice for a decade. It precedes this government. It precedes the previous government. It is not a Labor thing. It is not a Liberal thing. It is not a Nationals thing. It is something that our First Nations brothers and sisters, who have cared for this land for 65,000 years, have asked for. And, quite frankly, the very least we can do is to honour that request, if we truly respect the traditional owners of the land.

I'd also like to address some of the most, quite frankly, racist commentary that I've heard about the Voice. I want to specifically address the inappropriate likening of the Voice to apartheid in South Africa, which I have seen in discussions about the Voice. I say to people who liken the voice to apartheid: how dare you! How dare you hijack the atrocities of apartheid for politicking. Let me explain this simple fact yet key difference. Apartheid meant that black and coloured people in South Africa had shorter life expectancy, lower levels of education and higher incarceration rates. If this sounds familiar, it's because they're the same conditions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are facing today.

The previous speaker said: 'The minute you were an Aussie citizen, you were in every way equal.' I would say to that member that, for at least two centuries, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not been equal in this country. That is a sad state of affairs, and we have an opportunity to rectify that.

I'll add to that. It's a sad state of affairs, but it's not for lack of trying. We've tried. We have Closing the Gap. We've tried different things, but they have not worked, and the reason that they have not worked is that they have been imposed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country have not been included in the development of the policies and programs that either were specifically designed for them or had an inadvertent adverse impact on them. The Voice is a key, vital and important step to addressing the Closing the Gap measures, those measures that we have failed on for too long. It's time for us to mean it when we say we respect our traditional owners, it's time for us to mean it when we say we want to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and it's time for us to mean it when we say we want to close the gap.

We know that outcomes are better when we work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to address their issues, and the Voice will make a real and practical difference on the ground in areas like health, education and housing. We know this because we have evidence to this effect. I used to be a researcher. In many ways I'm still a researcher, because I still love reading academic papers. All the research tells us that, when you co-design things, consult people, talk to people and allow them to have an input into the policies, practices and laws that are going to affect them, you get better outcomes. It's a fact. It's an irrefutable fact backed by evidence and research across a number of areas, whether it be in consultation about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people or whether it be when we're talking about different communities. Each and every one of us here knows that, because each and every one of us is here to represent our communities, and you don't do that without talking to your community. I don't get to come in here and represent the people of Cowan without talking to the people of Cowan, asking the people of Cowan what the issues are for them, making myself accessible to the people of Cowan and listening to, respecting and recognising the people of Cowan. It is a first principle that drives pretty much each and every one of us in this place. We don't come in here thinking that we're going to be able to represent our communities without talking to them, listening to them and consulting them. How can we deny this to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when that is what they've been asking for for at least a decade?

I stand here in this place proudly representing my electorate of Cowan. I am supremely honoured to be here as the member for Cowan, because I have the privilege of seeing the very best of my community, and I am continually in awe of them and grateful for their generosity and their compassion and their warmness. I know that, when referendum day comes, they will vote for respect, and as a community we will prove that the Uluru statement, expressed from the heart, was received in the hearts of millions of Australians. I believe that we're ready to change the Constitution. I believe that Australia is ready to change for the better. I believe that history is calling. We have a choice: whether to write a future for this country where all people walk together and where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people no longer have higher mortality rates, higher incarceration rates, lower education rates and lower school completion rates; or—the other choice—whether we relegate the voice of our First Nations people to the margins of history, as it has been for 200 years.

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