An Indigenous elder who helped the government carve out the Voice to Parliament referendum question has urged the Australian public to vote on principle – claiming further details won’t be made public until after a ‘Yes’ vote.
Aunty Pat Anderson, co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue and Alyawrre elder, told ABC News Breakfast Australia has ‘never gone to a referenda with all the details’ and that this will be no different.
Australians will be asked to vote on whether a Voice to Parliament should be enshrined in our Constitution between October and December this year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described the proposal as a ‘modest’ request which will have little impact on the lives of most Australians – but will make all the difference for our nation’s most vulnerable.
Critics, meanwhile, argue it either does too little or too much, and that there are too many questions yet to be answered.
Aunty Pat Anderson, c o-chair of the Uluru Dialogue and Alyawrre elder, told ABC News Breakfast Australia has ‘never gone to a referenda with all the details’ and that this will be no different
Aunty Pat said: ‘In this kind of democracy, the one we have here in Australia, we vote on matters of principle.
‘There are nine principles that are out there for everybody to look at, and all of the details of how it’s all going to work will be done after the “yes” vote.’
She said there would be ‘enough information for the general public to make up their minds’.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus made some progress in clearing up the primary confusion about the scope of the Voice during a press conference on Monday.
He listed five areas in which the advisory body will be focused and making recommendations to parliament: health, employment, education, housing and justice.
But the message was somewhat diluted just hours later when Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney was unable to give the same answer in Question Time.
Aunty Pat said: ‘There are nine principles that are out there for everybody to look at, and all of the details of how it’s all going to work will be done after the “yes” vote’
Aunty Pat Anderson said: ‘This is a milestone. ‘This is fundamental to any democracy. Most of us here, we have spent our lives in the trenches, as our parents before us and generations. This is big for us. We can do better than we’re doing’
Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley asked: ‘Minister, what areas of public policy will not be within the scope of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?’
Ms Burney would not be drawn on the details, instead stating the Government had been ‘extraordinarily clear’ on the role of the advisory body.
‘If she’d listened more carefully to the debate she wouldn’t have to ask that question,’ Ms Burney said.
‘It is stated time and time again that the Voice will concern itself with issues that directly affect First Nations people.’
Mr Dutton asked for clarity on what that would exclude.
Mr Albanese and the referendum working group has outlined some key details of the way the body will work, insisting it will operate ‘transparently’, will not have veto power and will work independently.
Committee members will be appointed by Indigenous communities and will serve on the committee for a fixed period of time, yet to be determined, he said.
However, there appears to be mixed signals. Thomas Mayo, who authored a guide on the Voice to Parliament and has been part of the working group, said the proposal could be a step towards reparations and compensation being paid to Aboriginal people.
Mayo has become one of the most prominent campaigners in the Voice after contributing to the creation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017
Speaking at the Sydney Writers Festival to promote his new handbook to the Voice to Parliament, Mayo said he’s throwing ‘everything he has’ at this referendum
He made the comment in a video published by Search Foundation, a left-wing thinktank that markets itself as the successor to the Communist Party of Australia.
Mr Mayo was speaking about the Uluru Statement from the Heart, some two years before the Albanese government announced there would a referendum on a First Nations Voice – an Aboriginal body with the power to propose alterations to all bills before parliament that impact indigenous people.
‘This is the first step, it’s a vital step and it puts all the explanation behind it. Pay the Rent for example, how do we do that in a way that is transparent and that actually sees reparations and compensation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people beyond what we say and do at a rally?’
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The ‘Pay the Rent’ movement wants homeowners to voluntarily pay a percentage of their income to Aboriginal elders without any government oversight or intervention.
Elsewhere, Mr Mayo said politicians would be ‘punished’ if they ignored advice from the advisory body.
Aunty Pat said the referendum provides ‘an opportunity to make real structural change so that First Nations people, First Peoples of this land, will be able to participate fully in all of the decisions and policies that are made about us.
‘We have never been at the table discussing this and being involved in all the decisions that affect us.
‘That’s been the missing ingredient over all these generations where the Government of the day, irrespective of political persuasion, reckons they know better than black fellas.’
