Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

It's a bit confusing when there are those of us who not only have heritage from the first peoples of this country but also those who were dispossessed of their country and brought here in chains—my ancestors and no doubt also Senator McCarthy's ancestors also. There are those in this nation who also take the opportunity to exploit the fact that they can tick a box, like in South Australia—all you have to do is write a statutory declaration to claim aboriginality. Doesn't this just make a mockery of this whole proposal? The government is attempting to constitutionally enshrine special measures. Yes, it is about a group of Australians. It is a particular racial group of Australians, and those who seek to take advantage of declaring they belong to this particular group. Let's not pretend this is not about race when we know it is.

If you want to talk about Indigenous Australians, anyone born here is Indigenous. This is what I was brought up with as part of my culture. Aboriginal people where I come from accept that if you are born in this country, your conception site is where your baby spirit leapt from the ground into your mother's belly, giving you spiritual connection to this country, whether you come from convict heritage or migrant heritage, if you are born in this country.

The design principles say here that it will be community led, empowering and culturally informed. Could that mean since members of the Voice would be expected to connect with and reflect the wishes of their communities, that it could be suggested that in fact indigeneity extends to the broader community—that anyone who was conceived in this country belongs here, which is the culture that I grew up with? Is it possible that this government might accept that as well?