Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Sunday, I attended the launch of the Yes23 campaign for the Franklin electorate at Kangaroo Bay. Addressing the launch were the member for Franklin, Julie Collins; Senator McKim; and Palawa elder Uncle Rodney Dillon. Mr Dillon in his speech to the crowd said that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament would be the greatest step Australia would make in his lifetime. Mr Dillon expressed the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and I feel we have an obligation to them not to squander this once-in-a-generation opportunity.

I spoke to a number of people at the launch who have been involved in the 'yes' campaign by making phone calls, knocking on doors and having one-on-one conversations. Hearing about the experiences of these campaigners gave me hope that the 'yes' vote can succeed. What they told me and what I experienced in my own conversations is that simply explaining the facts of the proposal, including showing people the exact words of the proposed constitutional change, is very persuasive towards the 'yes' case. An honest, factual conversation almost every time convinces genuinely undecided voters to vote 'yes', because the facts reveal that the Voice to parliament is a modest proposal and that there is nothing to fear. It's a proposal that will make very little difference, if any, in the lives of non-Indigenous Australians, but it has the potential to make a dramatic, positive difference in the lives of Indigenous Australians.

For the benefit of anyone listening to tonight's debate, let me explain in simple terms what is being proposed and why. This referendum is about two things: recognition and listening. The referendum will give us the opportunity to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and 65,000 years of continuous connection to land in our country's birth certificate, the Australian Constitution. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to parliament will allow us to listen to grassroots solutions to help close the gap and improve the lives of First Nations people. We know from closing the gap reports that the outcomes we are getting, particularly in a wealthy, prosperous country like Australia, are completely unacceptable. By providing First Nations people with a direct line of advice to the Australian parliament and government, we have the chance to achieve better results in areas like health, housing, justice and education.

The Voice is not an idea that the Prime Minister or the government came up with. It's a request from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the largest ever consensus of First Nations people on the way forward in Australia. In fact, the words of the constitutional amendment have been developed by a reference group comprising First Nations people. While the Voice will be enshrined in our Constitution, the detailed design will be legislated by parliament, including those on the other side. The parliament, if it deems necessary, can change the legislation and improve the design over time, but, by being enshrined in the Constitution, the Voice cannot be easily dismantled, which is what Mr Dutton and the 'no' campaign would like.

The proposed amendment to the Constitution is legally sound. As the Solicitor-General's advice states:

The proposed amendment is not only compatible with the system of representative and responsible government established under the Constitution, but it enhances that system.

These are the facts. The best weapon the 'yes' campaign has is having honest conversations.

Sadly, as we've seen from yesterday's front pages in the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, the 'no' campaign are not interested in honest conversations. As the article states:

The campaign to sink the Voice has instructed volunteers to use fear and doubt rather than facts to trump arguments used by the Yes camp.

They've been instructed to claim that the Voice would be used to abolish Australia Day and seek financial reparations. 'Don't use the facts' is the sort of instruction that you give when you know the facts are not on your side. It's a shameless, cynical campaign, and it's exactly the strategy that the Leader of the Opposition and many in his party have bought into. Knowing the facts are not on their side means that they know deep down that this change has the potential to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to improve outcomes in health, education, justice and life expectancy. Regardless of the outcome of this referendum, it will be to their eternal shame that the Leader of the Opposition and other 'no' campaigners in this place sought, for their own political purposes, to deny the aspirations of First Nations people for recognition, equality and justice.