Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I am, of course, supporting the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023. I'll be campaigning for the 'yes' case and encouraging members of the Kingsford Smith community to also support this important constitutional alteration to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament.

The Gamay Rangers are an Indigenous rangers group that care for country around Botany Bay. They're a team of dedicated, skilled rangers that bring thousands of years of historic and cultural knowledge to their management and conservation of the land and the waters of Botany Bay. They have been part of that water and that land for centuries. They know its ecosystem better than any other human on earth. There is a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales that are looking to do work on seagrass restoration in Botany Bay. They have been consulting the experts. They have been consulting the Gamay Rangers. They've taken a different approach to traditional science and conservation projects, and it's paying dividends. Professor Adriana Verges from UNSW, who is leading the project, said: 'It's been rewarding getting to know and understand their connection to the bay. As an ecologist, we have ideas about what is important for habitat, but by listening to the rangers, we now know it's important to understand what species are culturally important to help build habitat around that as well.' Here we have an important environmental program that is benefiting from listening to people that know that habitat best: First Nations Australians.

Consulting First Nations Australians about issues affecting them will ensure that governments of all levels make better decisions and get better outcomes for First Nations Australians across our continent. First Nations Australians have known this for a long time, but we have not been listening. Well, it's time for us to listen. In 2017, 250 representatives from First Nations communities across Australia came together at Uluru. They spoke with one voice and they said: 'Enough is enough. We are the most incarcerated race of people in the world. We have lower life expectancies than the average Australian. We have inferior health outcomes to the average Australian. Our children's educational outcomes are below mainstream Australia. We have been dispossessed of our lands, our culture destroyed, our languages ruined, our children taken from us. Enough is enough. We want to be respected, and we want to be recognised. We want to have a say about issues affecting our communities. We want to be heard.' They spoke with one voice when they said in the Uluru statement, 'We want a Voice to Parliament about matters affecting us and our communities.' They asked the Australian people to talk with them, not to them.

This bill and this referendum represent the government and the parliament respecting the views of First Nations Australians and listening to their view. Most importantly, it represents the government acting to deliver First Nations Australians a constitutionally enshrined voice to the parliament in Australia. Although the Albanese Labor government sought and received a mandate at the election to hold this referendum, this is not the government's referendum. This proposal to alter our Constitution does not belong to one political party or a particular politician. This referendum belongs to the Australian people—Australians who recognise that 65,000 years of continuous cultural connection to this continent by First Nations Australians is a source of pride for our nation and should be celebrated in our Constitution; Australians who believe that the lives of First Nations Australians can be improved if we listen to and respect the views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians about issues affecting them; Australians who believe that we will be a better nation, a better people, if we work together to amend our Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of this continent and enshrine in that Constitution a voice to parliament for them. All Australians are invited to be part of this change as we move towards this era of acknowledgment and respect.

This bill, if passed, will allow the government to get on with that process. This bill allows the government to hold a referendum of the Australian people within six months. That referendum will ask the Australian people to vote on a proposal to amend the Australian Constitution to do three things: to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first people of Australia; to establish a body to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice and to outline that the Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. That's it. It's as simple as that.

This is a proposal whose time has come. Since 2010, there have been seven inquiries, investigations and reports into constitutional recognition of First Nations Australians, involving the parliament, expert panels and the Australian people. Despite all these reports, there's been excuse after excuse—predictably from, unfortunately, the former government and from certain political leaders, kicking the can down the road and providing excuses about why we couldn't do this. Well, the new government, the Labor government, is saying: 'Enough is enough. If not now then when?'

The latest inquiry into this proposal, which was conducted over the last couple of months, was by the joint select committee that's investigating this constitutional alteration. They received 270 submissions from Australians. There were 71 witnesses and five public hearings. That committee, the latest in a long string, has again recommended that this bill be passed without amendment, and that is what this parliament should do. The time has come to recognise First Nations Australians in our Constitution.

I know that Australians have busy lives. Some may not be aware of this proposal, and some may want more information before they make a decision. I and members of the government respect that, and that is why the government will conduct an education campaign to inform Australians about the background to the Voice proposal, how it will work, what it will mean for all Australians and the wording of the referendum question. In the community I represent, I will be holding public forums across the community, inviting members of the community to come along and hear and be educated about this proposal before they make a decision. Those community forums will be open to all members of the public.

There is quite a bit of information that has been released by the government on the advice of the expert working panel, a group of First Nations Australians, members of various political parties and leaders of Australia who came together to advise the government about how we establish this Voice to Parliament. There are a number of principles that they have laid down for the design of the Voice to Parliament that we know. First, the Voice will make representations to the parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Second, the Voice will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people based on the wishes of local communities. The third principle is that the Voice will be representative of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander communities, will be gender balanced and will include youth. Fourth, the Voice will be empowering, community led, inclusive, respectful and culturally informed. Fifth, the Voice will be accountable and transparent. Sixth, the Voice will work alongside existing organisations and traditional structures. This means that the Voice will respect the work of existing organisations, including the parliament. Seventh, the Voice will not have a program delivery function. And, importantly, the final principle is that the Voice will not have a veto power over the work of this parliament.

That is important to highlight. The Voice will be an advisory body. It will be up to the parliament whether or not it accepts the advice that comes from the Voice, and the Voice will certainly not have a veto power over the actions of government or the actions of this parliament. It will simply be an advisory body. It will simply reflect Australians finally recognising the 65,000-year connection that First Nations Australians have had with this continent and enshrining a mechanism in the Constitution, that can't be taken away by governments of the future, to allow First Nations Australians to be heard by government about matters affecting them.

I have lived in the community that I represent my entire life. I feel fortunate to represent that wonderful community of Kingsford Smith. I have had a deep connection, particularly, to the waterways around my community, the fantastic beaches and Botany Bay. I grew up surfing, fishing, playing and swimming in those waters. I feel a deep connection to that important place.

Robert Cooley and his team of Gamay Rangers have educated me and others in our community about traditional food sources, about the fragile nature of the ecology of Botany Bay and how to conserve that ecology into the future. Our community and all three levels of government are now much wiser in the approach that we take to environmental and development policy around Botany Bay because we have listened to the experts, because we have had the opportunity of being educated about the historical connection and the cultural connection and the importance of that to First Nations Australians.

The Voice gives us an opportunity to achieve better policy outcomes for First Nations Australians and all Australians on a national scale. Let's not waste this opportunity. Let's not cast aside this welcoming hand that's been offered by First Nations Australians. Let all Australians accept the invitation to listen and learn from the First Australians, to finally show them the respect that they deserve for their continuous connection to country over 65,000 years. It's time for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, and passing this legislation is the first step in ensuring that all Australians can work together to finally deliver a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.

See this speech in context