Douglas Smith: Voice referendum reminds me of an AFL Grand Final – except we won’t have another chance to play if we vote No

Indigenous affairs reporter Douglas Smith says he will vote Yes in the upcoming Voice referendum. Here’s why.

The celebrity status of politicians in Australia is blinding.

Warning – I am about to write some football puns.

Yes, they, our politicians, are there to play for the people, but the attention they garner can often misdirect what people should really be focused on, and in the case of the Voice debate in Australia, it is ourselves.

I heard something last week from a First Nations grassroots No campaigner who described the Voice debate as an AFL Grand Final.

There are some similarities between the Voice referendum and the AFL Grand Final, Douglas Smith says. But the referendum as far from a game that will be played again next year. Picture: Jason Edwards

She said the two teams competing for the premiership were the Yes and No campaigns.

But it was as it occurs every year, on that day in late September, which in this case will be October 14, the crowd who actually matter are not given the same amount of attention as the players.

The crowd, in this story, are the Australian people. They are the voters and the spectators who, ultimately, have the power to decide the outcome of the game.

However, unlike the AFL Grand Final, there will not be another opportunity to come back next year and have another go at it. This upcoming Saturday is it. We only get one shot to get this right, and if Australia decides No, it won’t be the majority of voters and spectators who will suffer, it will be the minority in the crowd who are the First Nations people.

Grassroots representatives of remote communities in Central Australia posing in front of Uluru after their council meeting to vote 'Yes' to a Voice to Parliament. Picture: Tina Tilhard

It occurred to me that the No campaigner who I spoke to had an analogy on the Voice topic that I agreed with and I respected her opinion, despite the fact that I intend to vote Yes.

I will tick that side of the ballot paper on referendum day, not just because I truly believe it is the right thing to do, but also because my decision is influenced by the fact that the entire debate around the Voice issue has revealed a dark and ugly side to this country.

A dark side filled with historical wrongs that have been swept under the carpet where they have remained.

The ugly side we see is a result of not addressing that history, but in order to do that, we need truth-telling.

Truth-telling that would come from a Voice.

This country has failed to do that. Instead, the true history of this country has been suppressed, ignored, and written without the input of First Nations people.

Our history was hidden, skipped over in schools and too shameful for our teachers to speak about. The accounts and versions of events from First Nations peoples were denied, ignored and not believed. This still continues today.

Vote No campaign material at an event in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Australia is not healed. Yes, relations have improved between black and white, and I say ‘black and white’ because historically, that is how it was, and because to me, that is how it felt growing up in a small country town. It was black and white.

However, we now live in a more multicultural society and this has only made Australia a more accepting and tolerant country.

But no one should be comfortable in thinking that the job is done. There is still a journey to embark on.

It is a journey First Nations people have walked alone for generations. For us, it is exclusion, isolation and more of the same.

I am not here to take anything away from anyone and I will not ignore the fact that outside of the Voice topic in Australian politics, there is a list of issues that require urgent attention such as the cost of living, health care, or jobs just to list the big ones.

That is not lost on me or any other First Nations’ person in this country.

We feel your pain. Believe me! We have lived with the bare minimum of it all for generations. It fuels the ongoing cycle of disadvantage in our communities and it is a cycle we have been trying to break.

For First Nations people, it is our daily struggle, but for many spectators who watch it from the stands and corporate boxes, it is the status quo.

I will come back to using a common saying in sport when I say that, ‘a team is only as strong as its weakest player’, which in this story, has been for a long time, First Nations people.

Think about that for a second.

Now, imagine Australia is the football team you support, and that you only want success for that team, which requires every player to be up to standard and then some.

Australia is not there yet.