Sue Lines (President) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cadell. I'm going to give myself the call. I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the traditional custodians of the place we now call Canberra. I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people watching this debate today. I recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of Australia's First People, and in that spirit of reconciliation and respect I look forward to working together to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, including a constitutionally enshrined voice to our national parliament. Towards the end of this year, all Australians will vote in a referendum to determine whether a voice to parliament can be enshrined in the Constitution.

The framework for a voice to parliament is not an invention of this government and nor is it a new ask. The process for constitutional recognition was agreed across the parliament and created by a co-design process. The final outcome of that process was a meeting at Uluru of 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates, who met and agreed on the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I want to start by quoting from a piece of the Uluru Statement:

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates … And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers …

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

Upon his election last year, Prime Minister Albanese and the entire government accepted this generous invitation, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and we have committed to implementing that statement in full.

The Voice proposal is about two things: firstly, to recognise the unique status of our First Nations peoples as the original owners and inhabitants of this land; and, secondly, to recognise that, after generations of being silenced and ignored in our country's founding document, specific measures are required to raise First Nations voices and ensure that they are consulted on issues that affect them. As Noel Pearson stated earlier this year in his first Boyer lecture:

Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is not a project of identity politics, it is Australia's longest standing and unresolved project for justice, unity and inclusion.

As a Western Australian senator, I've held many meetings across the state. Many First Nations and community leaders have attended these forums. We've had full and frank discussions about what the Voice is and what it isn't. In these meetings I've heard the views of many, from cultural leaders and elders to young people, stolen generations and non-Indigenous people. Despite the many differences between groups who attended these meetings, common themes emerged, once again described so eloquently by Noel Pearson when he said:

Let me point out what is incontrovertible: Australia doesn't make sense without recognition. Until the First Peoples are afforded our rightful place, we are a nation missing its most vital heart.

One of the incredible women who has become part of this journey is Narelle Henry, a proud Noongar yorga living and working on Whadjuk country and General Manager of Ember Connect. She has shared her heartfelt endorsement to the Voice to Parliament. I want to add her words to the Hansard for this debate. Narelle said:

The outcome of this referendum will affect me, my daughters, my nieces, aunties and communities for the rest of our lives … I think about the outcome of the referendum every day. This will be just a day for most Australians, but for me and my family and so many of the people that I love and care about, we will wake up the next day forever changed by the outcome of the nation's decision.

If there is a negative outcome, I'm not sure that I could ever recover, but if it is positive, it means I can let the hope that occasionally creeps in stay a while and grow, with the knowledge that my daughters will not have to bear the weight of carrying a banner, like their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. That the Australian people have chosen collectively to make history, which means my babies can enjoy a life of choice, that they are seen and heard as equals on a land in which their ancestors nurtured for thousands of years … Your vote means a lot. My life and the lives of my loved ones will never be the same following the referendum.

I met a respected leader at a Mandurah forum earlier this year. She also described a terrified feeling for the day after the referendum. She asked me: 'What if we lose?' The hope and fear so touchingly voiced by Narelle and others is shared by First Nations people, and it stays with me every day. I have many First Nations people who are my dear friends. My granddaughter is Gidja, and her family were stolen from Warmun and, after two generations, are still piecing together their family history. All of my First Nations friends and my granddaughter have been victims of racism. I find WEH Stanner's remarks, in his 1968 Boyer Lecture as he describes racism, heart-wrenching. He said:

Australians hold and express strong views about us, the great proportion of which is negative and unfriendly. It has ever been thus. Worse in the past but still true today.

In his Boyer lecture, Noel Pearson makes a bold claim of which he is most convicted. He said:

… racism will diminish in this country when we succeed with recognition.

Daniel Morrison, my granddaughter Charlee's uncle, whose bloodlines flow from Noongar, Yamatji and Gija clans, came with us to Waroona to hear from locals and to answer their questions and concerns about the referendum. Daniel told the group he'd thought long and hard about what he wanted to impress upon the people on that day. In the end, he said it was what was most important to him, his moort, his family. Daniel comes from a long line of fierce advocates, leaders and role models, the experience of many First Nations people who have attended our forums. Daniel told us about his grandfather Arthur. He enlisted and fought for his country in World War II. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war for three years on the Burmese railway. These soldiers were Australian heroes and yet Arthur was never recognised as an Australian hero. On his return to Australia he was still unable to vote, still excluded from stepping inside the Perth CBD and still not able to have a beer in the same pub with the men that he had fought alongside. He spoke about these experiences publicly and never stopped fighting.

This notion that recognition is somehow new is false. Many First Peoples have laid out the processes to get to where we are today. Once again Daniel shared a very early Western Australian experience. In 1928, a deputation of leaders selected by the community met with Premier Philip Collier to voice their concerns about the Aborigines Act of 1905. This included Daniel's great-uncle, Uncle Wilfred Morrison, who was a member of that deputation.

As a non-Indigenous person, I know my role is to speak to as many people as I can to ensure a successful result in Western Australia and to use my platform to confront and challenge the misinformation being shared from the 'no' campaign and, sadly, by some parliamentarians in this parliament. I hope that every Australian is able to make an informed decision on how they will vote.

When asked about his concerns about the success of the Voice referendum earlier this week on the radio, Thomas Mayo—I'm sure he is well known to all of you here as he's a campaigner from the Uluru Statement from the Heart—said: 'I know there are lots of lies and misinformation out there from people that are interested in seeing us defeated. The false argument about a racial divide is just that: completely false. This is about an Indigenous people that were here for over 60,000 years before colonisation. This isn't about race. In fact, decisions are made about Indigenous people as if we were a different race. That has been happening for hundreds of years and now we are seeking simply to have input into decisions that are made about us. Then we want to be heard. It's a unifying thing. It's about listening. It's about ensuring that we finally let go of that burden from our past and hand over to the next generation a better future where we accept that we have such a wonderful and great culture that makes us unique as Australians, and this is our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture.'

I want to make clear in my contribution, for the benefit of Australians watching, that this is not a political issue. In passing the constitutional alteration legislation, we are giving Australians the chance to change our Constitution, to stand on the shoulders of generations of change makers. That decision will sit with each and every Australian on the day that we go to vote on the referendum. I will be supporting the Voice because it's time to recognise 60,000 years of continuing culture and it's time to ensure that our First Nations people have a say in matters that affect them. I want to do justice to the voices of Narelle and her family, to Daniel and his family, and to my granddaughter, Charlee. I want them to have a future that is just as important and for them to be listened to in the same way that I am. The Voice, if successful, will allow us to continue our reconciliation journey as we face our past and look forward to a future. I hope that as a country we will vote 'yes' so that we can implement the generous invitation of the Uluru Statement of the Heart and move forward in a confident and unified way.

I'm very sad now. I rarely cry, and I cried earlier this week when Senator Patrick Dodson sent a message to us. I miss him deeply. He's a great warrior. He's called the 'father of reconciliation'. So I am dedicating this contribution to Senator Patrick Dodson, who said: 'Reconciliation means that we walk together towards a better future. My hope is that the Voice referendum this year will be Australia's greatest act of reconciliation. Let us deliver a successful referendum for a Voice that will be heard across the generations to come.'

Senate adjourned at 22:30