Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to begin by acknowledging the hardworking members of the First Nations caucus and the leadership that they've shown in the Labor Party not just in this term of government but in the many years leading up to government. In particular, I acknowledge my colleague Senator Patrick Dodson today.

This urgency motion highlights the false proposition that has been propelled in this debate by those that oppose the Voice—that somehow you can't have a voice to parliament, makarrata and agreement making and also make meaningful and urgent investments in closing the gap, that somehow you need to do one of those things but not any of the others. But that's not what the Uluru statement calls for. The Uluru statement calls for all of this work to be done and for all of this progress to be made together. I acknowledge the comments made by Senator Cox just previously. We don't agree on all of the terms, but I think it's worth acknowledging that many people can agree that all of this work can be done together and should be done together. A voice to parliament is an important part of this conversation. It's important because we as a government believe that we need to start work on this important part of the Uluru statement. It's because we're starting with this, constitutional recognition through a voice, that we believe we can achieve makarrata, truth telling and agreement making. That's exactly what the Uluru statement from the Heart calls for.

It also made clear the sequence of this process and this work. It's a sequence of a voice to parliament enshrined in the Constitution, followed by a makarrata commission to supervise agreement making and to oversee a process of truth telling. The sequence is important because the voice coming first will start to address the political disempowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. For too long, governments and bureaucrats have made policies for Indigenous Australians, not with Indigenous Australians. Generations of discrimination, systematic racism and entrenched disadvantage mean that they are starting from a very long way behind. We need a voice now—urgently, I would argue—to address the entrenched disadvantage that First Nations people experience.

In referring to this debate, I want to quote from someone who I think has done a magnificent job in arguing the case for the Uluru Statement from the Heart to be listened to and then arguing the case for the Voice to Parliament to be actioned and accepted by the parties of government—before the election, we believed that was the case, but that is no longer the case—and now continues to work for the 'yes' campaign, and that's Thomas Mayo. Something that resonated with me and with many others on this side of the chamber was when he said:

Can you imagine a section of workers, who have no union, trying to negotiate an agreement with a huge company?

& 1 worker demands: We must have an agreement b4 we form a collective voice?

Yeah, this is the same as demanding: Treaty before a First Nations Voice to Parliament.

Power and representation always precede a meaningful agreement. It's as if Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have a strong desire for treaty would establish a representative body and not go on to pursue agreement making and truth telling. These are important words because they acknowledge that there is a process and a sequence that a voice to parliament is incredibly important in terms of providing power and representation in a meaningful way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders so that we can deliver on the call of the Uluru statement.

I will finish, as one of my colleagues did, on the words of the Uluru statement:

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish.

I will say that I believe that not only will Indigenous children flourish but children of all Australians will flourish in a country where we walk together in two worlds, in two cultures. That is a gift to our country. It is a gift from Indigenous people to the rest of our country, and I, for one, will be accepting it when we get the opportunity to vote for the bill later this week in this chamber.