Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In respect of the government response to the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum report on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023, I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The report only provided one recommendation. I was one of the only crossbench members to participate in the committee's deliberations, within a short period of time. But we had a very rich and diverse amount of evidence provided, particularly from First Nations people from Orange in New South Wales, from the Torres Strait and from my home state of Western Australia in Boorloo, or Perth. We were able to hear directly from First Nations people about the impact a voice to parliament could provide, particularly around tangible and practical changes. People were saying how there is a longstanding history of doing things that just never worked for First Nations people in this country and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been asking since the abolishment of ATSIC some 20 years ago to have recognition in the Constitution but also a body that represent our interests. I've spoken about this many times in this chamber.

I spoke yesterday about my visit to the Barunga Festival last weekend and the call for treaty and the call for an overarching body to oversee Aboriginal and Islander issues in this country but also to look at criminal justice and policing issues across Australia. The Barunga statement was very clear that treaty in this country is something that we've been asking for for 35 years. In 1988 the Bagala people in Barunga painted and presented that bark to the then Prime Minister, Mr Bob Hawke, and asked him for treaty. His response on behalf of the Australian government was, 'The Australian people shall have a treaty with the first peoples of this country.' And still we are waiting.

My analysis and my contribution as part of the joint select committee on a Constitution alteration through a voice to parliament was that I supported the one recommendation, the recommendation that this bill pass through both houses of this place and that we make sure that it actually promotes the rights and freedoms of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as per the explanatory memorandum of the bill. It's important that we make sure that we follow this through and that we understand the importance of enshrining this within the Constitution. Democratically, that is up to the Australia people. It's not up to us as politicians. We'll pass this bill, hopefully, in the next week or so, and then it will be up to the Australian public to make that decision. It's not up to us.

Participating in that committee I heard things like that it took 170-odd years for someone Indigenous to be on a local government in country New South Wales. That man had tears in his eyes. I remember his evidence. I remember he went out campaigning for 12 years to be an elected representative. I saw the weariness on his face. But, finally, he was able to be a voice for his local community and local government. But he also said that he believed the work in his community could be bolstered by understanding and representing the local, regional and remote voices that are important and that they also needed to have an elected body. He believes it needs to be elected; it can't be a tap on the shoulder by the minister of someone handpicked or chosen. He believes the Voice needs to be a representative institution and that the representatives of the institution of the Voice would represent not themselves but those issues. That was very, very clear.

I know that there are member for the coalition who disagree about the power of the Voice to speak to the executive government and the importance of that. I myself asked people on the committee and through the deliberations of this committee, 'How important is that for you—for it to speak to the executive government?' They said it was so important because that's where the decisions are made. We don't want the run around anymore. We don't want to talk to the bureaucrats and other people. We want to speak to the executive government of the Commonwealth. We want to make sure all of the laws and the programs and the policies that are being developed are things that we can provide direct input to. It's about time that we started addressing the clear disadvantage that many have spoken about in this chamber on Closing the Gap. We need to continue to try and improve the outcomes for the First Peoples of this country and continue to work on partnerships across states and territories. But, more importantly, we need the federal leadership that is required to understand the disparity and why it exists in this country. It exists because we failed to provide a self-determined, human rights institutionalised approach previously in this country.

I'm very proud that I was able to hear from lots of those witnesses that gave their time to come and sit in front of the committee. I want to acknowledge the chair, Senator Nita Green from the Labor Party; and Mr Keith Wolahan from the Liberal Party, who were leaders of this committee and provided the stewardship. I think that all senators and members who participated in this committee did so with the goodwill of finding that small space of commonality of what we all wanted to achieve, and that shone through. I know that there was a dissenting report from the coalition in relation to the processes and the report from the joint standing committee, but during the deliberations everyone was respectful. Everyone was respectful to each other. Everyone was respectful to our witnesses and to our community and to the people that we heard from. That's the way this place should continue to have our inquiries and our debates. And we should continue to seek what I see to be a resolution, particularly on the constitutional alteration bill that we are now debating in this place.

I look forward to the next part of the journey in relation to truth and treaty as part of fulfilling all elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and this government's commitment to that. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.