Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2017, Indigenous leaders gathered at Uluru, inviting Australia to take the next step on the path to reconciliation through the Uluru Statement from the Heart. In part, the statement says:

When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

In parliament, I was proud to speak and vote in favour of constitutional change, and to work on the electoral matters committee which reviewed the referendum legislation. In Hasluck, I've been busy talking to people on the doors and hosting events to support a successful 'yes' vote in the referendum. Back in June, we kicked off the campaign with a kitchen table meeting at Koya Aboriginal Corporation, who do so much great work in Midland and surrounds, followed by community meetings with Jeremiah Riley at the Crooked Spire cafe, and later that evening we gathered together a group of interested citizens at the Midlands Art Centre to discuss the campaign.

On 24 August, I co-hosted a community forum on the Voice with the Church of the Ascension in Midland. Two hundred people packed the pews. Reverend Stuart Fenner and his community have been advocates and dedicated supporters of the Voice. I was left awed as Narelle Henry, general manager of Ember Connect, moved us all with the story of her grandmother's struggle for equality and access to education. Wanita Bartholomeusz spoke passionately about her work within the Western Australian Police Force and the lifesaving changes that the Voice will bring for her family and community. Reverend Tim Costello shared his wisdom in a simple and accessible way. People asked questions respectfully and left better informed.

For those who missed out on that occasion, I just want to draw on a few thoughts that Wanita shared in the forum and in other mediums, and to refer to a few of her comments. Her view are:

Give us the Voice and the opportunity to be accountable for the management of issues that affect Aboriginal people.

Should we fail at that then fair call critiques can come loud and fast and deservedly so.

But at this point Aboriginal people have been at the periphery of decision making about their own communities.

However when one colonises a country and the people in it. Unless they exterminate them all which was tried but did not succeed then governments in a modern 1st world country must manage and care for ALL its citizens.

The over representation of Aboriginal people in a number of areas including infant mortality, highest suicide rates in the Western World, 1 in 3 living below the poverty line. Incarceration rates the highest per capita in the western world. Lower levels of year 12 completion per capita, homelessness, unemployment and highest rates of dying or illness from preventable diseases.

These are nots statistics that any country and their citizens regardless of one's political persuasion can be proud off.

But these are not just statistics, these are humans lives. Australian lives.

When the issues prevail the country as a whole suffers.

On 29 August, I was joined in Hasluck by Minister Mark Butler and former member and former minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, and we visited Moorditj Koort Aboriginal Corporation to discuss the ways in which a success referendum outcome would directly assist the work of organisations at the coalface of disadvantage, addressing the disadvantage that Wanita so succinctly described.

These are just some of the events, but every week we are out on the doors, happily speaking with locals about the generational opportunity before us. We are fortified by the overwhelmingly positive response received. The Yes23 campaign are phenomenal. They continue to be busy in the electorate. Over 2,000 doors having already been knocked and called by volunteers. Motivated Hasluck residents like Lee Roberts, Chris Elder, Pauline Savage, Peter Banks, Colleen Strider, Rebecca Robinson and Lise Sorenson are moved by the invitation of the Uluru statement and have given up their time to promote the Voice to Parliament. Locals Mary Yarran and Clayton Anderson have been out on Guildford Road waving corflutes and getting great feedback and honks from those passing by.

Our next event is on 21 September in Ellenbrook, and I'm excited to advise that Wanita will be joining that forum again, for those who missed hearing from her and Narelle. Jessica Shaw, our local member, will be fronting that, speaking as a leader of our community, to share the views and answer questions, to create the change and opportunity presented by the invitation from the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I encourage everyone to engage in respectful debate and move us forward.