Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

This is a simple proposal. It is modest. The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community asked for the Voice. It is in their Uluru Statement from the Heart, and they overwhelmingly support it today, as do many people in Wentworth. Wentworth people know that this is a question for the Australian people, not for politicians.

So many in my community are doing what they do best when they want change—they are organising. We already have over 250 people signed up to volunteer to engage our community on this referendum, people who recognise this generous invitation and realise it's up to all of us to make this happen, to help inform the community, to have respectable conversations and, ultimately, to deliver a successful referendum.

I would particularly like to thank Jonathan Potts, Margot and Rod Cunich, Susie Scott, Sigrid Kirk, Gene Ross, Mehera San Roque, Nicole Abadee, Ann Sloan, Robyn Edwards, Sally Snow, Michele Ferguson, Jack Frisch, Annette Guerry, Peter McEvoy, Kath Naish, Ellen Finlay, Lyndell Droga, Miranda Smith and others for being the vanguard on this.

I'll finish with an extract from a speech that Rachel Perkins, the celebrated film-maker, made recently at our Wentworth for the Voice launch. Rachel told us: 'This referendum is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. If we win, this will have been an extraordinary moment of unity. It will not only lift Indigenous people but will be recognition of non-Indigenous Australians, who can say: "We have stood by First People. We have acknowledged their rightful place in this country."'

It is time to say yes. I support this bill.

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