Thursday, October 12, 2023
Let Them Speak: Indigenous Voice Referendum
By Seth Jordan
Australia is holding a referendum that may lead to its Indigenous people gaining political recognition. Seth Jordan reports from two of Australia’s most important Indigenous events on the opposing campaigns
Yothu Yindi at the NIMAs © Music NT
The ‘Land Down Under’ is at a social-political crossroads, as a hotly contested internal debate is taking place concerning its Indigenous population. On October 14 Australians will have their say in a referendum about whether to change the Constitution to finally recognise the First Peoples of Australia, by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ‘Voice’.
The Voice would be a permanent, independent advisory body that would provide advice to the Australian Parliament and Government on matters that affect the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. On referendum day, voters will be asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a single 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 this proposed alteration?’ In order to become law, the referendum needs to achieve a simple majority nationally, as well as a majority of the states.
With a history of land dispossession, continued social disadvantage and racism still rife in Australia, two recent Northern Territory Indigenous gatherings underscored the need for a positive referendum outcome. At both the Garma Festival on the Gove Peninsula in Eastern Arnhem Land – an annual four-day cultural gathering for the clans and families of the region, which has become the premier platform for national discussions of social and political issues affecting Indigenous Australians – as well as this year’s National Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin, the referendum was certainly the main topic.
Garma attendees included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, actor Jack Thompson and many high-profile Indigenous representatives including Aboriginal Affairs Minister Linda Burney, Professor Marcia Langton, politicians Malarndirri McCarthy and Marion Scrymgour, and lawyer-advocate Noel Pearson, who all spoke eloquently about the need to have the referendum succeed. And on the night of NIMA, a number of well-known Indigenous musicians, including Witiyana Marika and Fred Leone, similarly urged the audience to get behind the Yes campaign.
Ngulmiya at the NIMAs © Paz Tassone
If successful, the Voice granted by the referendum would not be able to initiate new legislation and would not have any veto right on current or future laws. It would simply be a mechanism to officially provide Indigenous recommendations to the Parliament and government of the day, who would be free to either accept or reject that advice. In essence, it would compel the powers that be to at least listen to the Indigenous community’s concerns. According to ‘Yes’ campaigner Pearson, a future treaty – or Makarrata in Aboriginal Yolngu Matha language – is a concept that ‘captures the idea of two parties coming together after a struggle, healing the divisions of the past. It is about acknowledging that something has been done wrong and it seeks to make things right.’
With both the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns well underway, the ‘No’ campaign is unsurprisingly sowing a substantial amount of misinformation, confusion and fear. And a small number of Indigenous people are also advocating a ‘No’ vote, adamant that a treaty should be negotiated prior to the Voice. The ‘Yes’ campaign is insisting that a positive referendum result is the first and best next step.
