Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Statements by senators is a prized opportunity for us to talk about things that matter to us and that have a significant impact on the nation. I think it would be remiss if I did not begin today by congratulating the Transport Workers Union on their longstanding advocacy for workers and their rights and by putting on the record my support for the outstanding judgement that has come down today that makes it clear that companies cannot operate outside the Fair Work Act. We see today a very significant outcome against Qantas and for the workers who served our nation so well in their work in that industry. I congratulate the TWU because they took on a big task. It has been a long battle. The outcome is just.

I looked for other things that might be worth talking about. I know that our gaze has been averted for some time from the challenges that face Australians with regard to the actions of the biggest auditing companies in the world and their bases here in Australia—PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG. I draw the attention of people in the chamber to an article that came out today by Mr Edmund Tadros that talks about the big four's secret client mapping, which is the way they go in and find out who has the power and where they can organise further work for themselves. They take that back and use it as a tool to further their business and advance their profits. It's a great article.

There's so much to talk about—and the HAFF has just gone through—but today I choose to use the time allocated to me to persuade, if I can, as many Australians as possible to join me in voting yes on 14 October because this is a material and vital historic moment for our nation. I stand before the chamber, before the Australian public, aware of the power that we each have as senators in this place and the responsibility incumbent on us, the authority and the power we exercise on behalf of the Australian people—all the Australian people. Each day I'm in committee meetings and conversations that set forth vision, ideals and the course that this nation will take into the future. This place is not a normal place by any stretch of the imagination. We actually have immense power over the lives of millions of Australians—our fellow citizens. What we say and what we do has real consequences, and we need to act with hope, with integrity, with vision and with endeavour, and we need to build our nation up, not take it down.

I see Senator Malarndirri McCarthy here, and in the divisions we've just gone through we were engaged in conversation. I spoke to her about my wondering, when is the moment? When did the moment occur in our great history where we became so afraid, to the extent that those who are manufacturing a false argument against the Voice and recognition of our First Nations people have been able to get purchase on our hearts and minds and make us afraid of an advisory body—a group of people getting together to give advice to the government to make sure the money we invest in the benefit of Aboriginal First Nations Australians is spent well, to give them a say? Are we really so afraid that senators who are advancing the 'no' case can play with that fear, can advance false arguments so that we can't even think about giving First Nations people an advisory body to speak to the parliament and a recognition in our Constitution that says, 'Yep, actually, we're better than we were in 1901 and we're willing to say you were here'?

That's what the Voice will achieve; that's what the referendum will achieve—those two things: recognition and a chance to listen. But there are those among us who do not want to hear. They are drowning out the good voices, the hope and the sense of right that we should all take up in this battle. To do our job as senators and members, we require sound and direct advice. We need advice that listens to and understands the realities of the moments for which we legislate. We have to understand the failures of the past and the potential for improvement. Without this advice it's as if one is navigating without a map or any knowledge of the stars. That's why I, as a senator and a practitioner of government, call for the establishment and the enshrinement in the Constitution of Australia of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to make representations to the parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth—an advisory body.

We should not be afraid to listen. And I passionately believe that everyone in parliament can benefit from having a better-informed understanding of the realities of the decisions we make. The alteration that we're being encouraged to be frightened of comes in the form of three short stanzas. It rightfully returns some of the power to better the lives of Australia's Indigenous people back to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander citizens, allowing these peoples to reclaim their ability to have a say when we gather in this place and announce the progress that's been made towards closing the gap—or the lack of progress, sadly—and that is the gap of eight years in life expectancy, the gap in the sense that Indigenous men are more likely to go to prison than to university, and the gap of a community that is twice as likely to be shattered by suicide.

In this moment, I want to be extremely clear: there is a very real cost to voting 'no' at this referendum. Apart from the silencing of voices and creating a barrier to this parliament hearing the truth, there is a cost that is seen in the billions of taxpayer dollars being spent in an uninformed and unproductive way. So often in this place, the default measure for dealing with any issue has been to throw money at the problem. It's not that money doesn't matter. It does. But to write a cheque and forget about the rest is just bad policymaking. It's bad economics. It's a bad idea and a terrible practice. I instead believe that the correct question is not, 'How much money is being spent?' but: 'How is the money being spent? How effectively is it being spent? How could we target the finite bucket of money in the budget to ensure best value and the most targeted programs to support some of the most vulnerable and traumatised citizens in Australia?' That's worth hearing about. Clearly, more of the same is not working for either Indigenous Australians or Australian taxpayers. The cost of having an advisory body through the Voice is minuscule compared to the savings and efficiencies that are to be gained.

I encourage all my colleagues here to get out of the red room and spend some more time on the red dirt. See the situation in which some of our most important citizens live. If they do, they will not meet a unified voice; they will meet different perspectives. But let's be clear: the facts of the Voice to Parliament are a response to the majority. Not every single person of First Nations origin—not every single man and woman—but a majority of First Nations people gave their assent to the Voice. They gave their assent to us advancing a referendum. I urge Australian citizens to get out on the ground with me and campaign to be a better, braver nation than those who would have us vote 'no'. Vote 'yes' on 14 October. Vote for a better future for our country, for all of us but particularly for First Nations people. We have no cause to be frightened of an advisory body, and it's time we recognised that First Nations people were here. That's why we call them First Nations.