I hereby make my submission in strong support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and I ask the Commonwealth Government of Australia to change the constitution to allow Indigenous Australians a voice in the laws and policies that are made about them. This is LONG overdue.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu said on the pages of The Monthly in 2016 captures the essential nature of the 'Voice' proposal:
“What Aboriginal people ask is that the modern world now makes the sacrifices necessary to give us a real future. To relax its grip on us. To let us breathe, to let us be free of the determined control exerted on us to make us like you. And you should take that a step further and recognise us for who we are, and not who you want us to be. Let us be who we are – Aboriginal people in a modern world – and be proud of us. Acknowledge that we have survived the worst that the past had thrown at us, and we are here with our songs, our ceremonies, our land, our language and our people – our full identity. What a gift this is that we can give you, if you choose to accept us in a meaningful way.”
I ask that:
1. The government honour its election commitment to a referendum once a model for the Voice has been settled;
2. Enabling legislation for the Voice must be passed after a referendum has been held in the next term of Parliament; and
3. The membership model for the National Voice must ensure previously unheard Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the same chance of being selected as established leadership figures.
I support the development of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, followed by a Referendum to enshrine it in the Constitution.
It saddens me that this is still up for debate / consultation. There is much work to do.
Sincerely,
Martine
