Indigenous Voice to Parliament: How will it alter the country?
Australians will soon be heading to the polls to submit their vote for the Voice to Parliament.
The laws that will allow the national poll to be conducted passed parliament, with the government’s Constitution Alteration Bill passing the senate with 52 votes to 19.
The passage of the Bill through parliament led to a six-month period in which the referendum must be held.
The Albanese government have already announced Aussies will be able to vote in the national poll between October and December.
The government is yet to confirm an official date, but all referendums must be held on a Saturday, and that date raises the question:
“A proposed law: to alter the constitution to recognise the first peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice, do you approve of this proposed alteration?”
The proposed law that Australians will be asked to approve at the referendum would insert the following lines into the Constitution.
To recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:
There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
- The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
- The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”
- The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”
For the referendum to succeed, an overwhelming majority of voters in most states need to vote “Yes”.
Speaking to news.com.au Yes 23 campaigner Dean Parkin and No campaign spokeswoman Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price both concluded the outcome would have a major impact both symbolically and on a practical level.
Park said a successful Yes vote would send a powerful message of “what it means to be genuinely, uniquely Australian in the world is to be home to the oldest continuing culture on earth”.
“That’s something a lot of people have pride in, and it’s the thing that makes us genuinely unique, and now every Australian gets to connect their own existing story and deeply held view of being Australian to 65,000 years of history,” he said.
“That will strengthen and enrich all of our sense of what it means to be Australian. It’s not just about Indigenous people and doing something nice for 3 per cent of the population, it’s something that will benefit every Australian.”
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price weighed in on the No vote, arguing that “a vote against the voice in this referendum is a vote for a country united in the face of an effort to divide us along the lines of race”.
It’s a vote for standing together, shoulder to shoulder as equals, to solve the tragic issue of Aboriginal disadvantage,” she said.
“It’s a vote for fulfilling the promise of Australia’s constitution that we can all come from different backgrounds and cultures across the world and play a part in making our nation successful and prosperous.
“We are a country that believes in a fair go. We are all equals, we all deserve to be treated the same way in our national rule book.”
She noted that claims by pro-voice activists that a Yes vote would solve Indigenous disadvantage are “wrong and misleading”.
“They talk a big game about ‘closing the gap’, but they don’t say how this will be done. In fact, there are no details at all,” she said.
“But we already know what we need to do to help in my communities.
“Kids going to school, adults working in real jobs, social stability in communities so people want to live, work and invest in them. The divisive voice won’t do this.”
The Senator added that while there is “no doubt there would be widespread support within the Australian community” for Indigenous recognition in the constitution, by voting No, “Australians would be sending a strong signal to the government to embark on a unifying process that could be supported by all Australians”.
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