Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We all know that that there's a referendum coming up, and last week we finally received the date of 14 October. This is a very exciting time for our nation and an important opportunity to refresh our Constitution to include something that should have been included in the original document: recognition of the First Peoples of this country, my people, who have inhabited this land and cared for this country for tens of thousands of years. But, as history has told us, we were excluded from the Constitution. We were not even counted as people. First Nations people were systematically excluded not only from the Constitution but from what the settlers have called modern Australia. This was because, according to them, we were a dying race and our elimination was crucial to the success of a modern and white Australia. This can be clearly seen in the quotes and actions of Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. In 1901, he laid out his vision for the country and he wrote:

In another century the probability is that Australia will be a white continent with not a black or even dark skin among its inhabitants. The Aboriginal race has died out in the south and is dying fast in the north and west, even where most gently treated. Other races are to be excluded by legislation if they are tinted to any degree. The yellow, the brown, and the copper-coloured are to be forbidden to land anywhere.

This quote should absolutely shock people, but it's a reminder of how far we actually have come. Mr Deakin was embarrassingly wrong in his predictions of what modern Australia would look like. First and foremost, despite the government's best efforts, not only are First Nations people still here but we are here in the nation's parliament, we are in businesses, we are in universities and we are succeeding.

However, there's still a long way to go. Only four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track, our sacred sites are still under threat from destruction, and we continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in such areas as homelessness, family and domestic violence and incarceration. There's a lot of work to be done, and there is no one silver bullet that will magically fix over 200 years of oppression and injustice. The Voice to Parliament is only part of this solution.

We know that, when First Nations people are directly involved in matters that affect them, it leads to better outcomes. First Nations people have the solutions. We have the knowledge and the ability to care for ourselves and our communities. Whether it be in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the Barunga Statement, the Yirrkala bark petitions or the call to action from Yule River—honestly, I could go on and on—fundamentally what First Nations people have been crying out for is to be heard and for people to let us do what we know best, and that is to take care of our mobs.

I come from five generations of the stolen generations, and I know firsthand what intergenerational trauma, loss and hurt have resulted from successive government policies thinking they know what's best for us blackfullas and from most of the social engineering that enabled some of this legislation to be not only created but also implemented to our detriment. I see now governments with the best intentions but not fully understanding the diversity of First Nations cultural laws and practices across this country and how best to create policy that not only captures this diversity but also celebrates it. Governments don't know what our birthing and burial sites and our songlines that contain our creator spirits and stories of our ancient culture are or look like, or that they are being disturbed and destroyed, which will have disastrous consequences for our spirituality. They also don't know what it truly means to be able to speak in our native tongue, the one in which our ancestors told our creation stories and gave names to our totems and also to our places. How could they understand when they are yet to have the truth-telling on a much broader scale—one that can articulate the nation's history through the way we see our country, our kinship, our culture, our law and our language absolutely through our eyes? It's true that we have 11 of us mob here now in parliament. The job we have is enormous—trying to explain the diversity of our mob and the ways in which we advocate for our people, for the protection of our cultural heritage and for our community led solutions, but there is so much more we can do and learn. This is why we need a Voice to parliament.

Today I want to issue a call to action for everyone who is eligible to vote in the referendum. Firstly, ensure that you are enrolled to vote. Check with your friends and family and make sure they've enrolled to vote. Check that your enrolment details are up to date. If you've moved recently or changed your name, update your enrolment through the AEC's website. Secondly, get involved. Winning a referendum is no easy feat. We know this. With all this misinformation and fearmongering that's going on out there, it will take all of us to do our part. Get in contact with Yes23. Whatever you are comfortable with or interested in, there is a way for you to play your part. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us to come together and fight for an Australia that we want to live in—one that acknowledges the hurt and trauma that First Nations people have been subjected to, and the continuation of that, which is a legacy that we see today. We want to see a nation that goes further, not just acknowledging but also taking action to listen to those who have been impacted about change for the better and where we should be heading as a collective into our future pathway to walk together.

In my home state of Western Australia, they did the most remarkable things in acknowledging First Peoples. They elected the first Aboriginal woman to an Australian parliament, Aunty Carol Martin; the first Aboriginal man to the House of Representatives, Uncle Ken Wyatt; the 'father of reconciliation', my colleague Senator Pat Dodson; and me, as the first Aboriginal woman to represent Western Australia in the federal parliament.

I want to address some of the issues that have been laid bare—in particular, the one around the opposition leader, who went on to Sky News to tell the Australian public that they will hold another referendum to recognise First Peoples in the Constitution, which is flying in the face of what First Nations people have actually asked for. I'm sensing a sense of regret in Mr Dutton's voice about not giving his bipartisan support to an important opportunity in this referendum. We cannot choose to play politics with the lives of First Nations people, and I absolutely don't want to wait another two or three generations for this opportunity to come around again. So my message to the politicians in this place is to stop using us as a football. Come to the table and negotiate. If you get it wrong, own it!

We have a small window of opportunity for making a change that could impact on generations to come. I want us all to be able to reflect on our time in this place and be able to say: 'We did the right thing. We stood on the right side of history.' So, on 14 October, please write 'yes'.

I also want to address a Guardian article that came out today in relation to a misinformation pamphlet that contains a QR code saying that it a link is to a postal vote. It actually doesn't link people back to the AEC's website; it links people to the Liberal Party's website. It is misinformation to tell people that they are going to register, to take people's data and to use that. It is dirty tactics to use that in this referendum, and it must stop! It is, unfortunately, not illegal, but the Australian Greens party and our democracy portfolio holder, Senator Waters, has spoken about this in the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. This must be addressed because it is misleading and untrue, and it is taking people's data and collecting their contact details. So I am urging people to not play into the misinformation and the 10 items that are listed on this pamphlet. This should absolutely lay bare for people the misinformation and the dirty tactics that are being used in this referendum campaigning. It must stop, because it is to the detriment of our people, who are hurting and who are upset. These are the tactics that are dividing the nation.

If you see these pamphlets, do what I'm going to do: screw them up and throw them over your shoulder, because they belong in the past and not in politics in this place.