If you grew up Indigenous, you definitely knew about it | Douglas Smith

Claims of imposter Voice voters underestimate the ability of Indigenous people to know who is genuine and who is not, writes Douglas Smith.

Something that has riled me for some time now are people who commit Aboriginal and, or, Torres Strait Islander identity fraud.

I grew up facing racism because of the colour of my skin, whether it was blatant and in my face or subtle and exclusionary.

In Australia, if you grew up Indigenous, you definitely knew about it.

Being Indigenous meant that you were from a village and a community of people who all faced the same challenges that you did either because of the colour of your skin or the known fact of your heritage.

As we look toward South Australia having a First Nations Voice to parliament with a fully-elected representative body up and running by the end of the year, I think about claims made by Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Jacinta Price and her husband Colin Lillie have appeared in an advertisement for the No campaign.

In her newly appointed role, she made a pit stop to Adelaide last week, where she warned that the SA Voice would trigger a “dramatic increase” in people falsely claiming Indigenous heritage.

Ms Price and leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton believe this increase will be because people either want to run for a representative position on the Voice or be able to vote for a representative.

Her claims are bold but a bit of a low-blow. As the face of the Coalitions’ no campaign against the national Voice, I would expect to hear her say such things, which are unfounded.

She made the claim while the state government is still working with the Australian Electoral Commission to ensure the integrity of the SA Voice election later this year, which we still do not know the details of.

Either way, Ms Price is underestimating the ability of Indigenous people in SA to know who is genuine and who is not, and I cannot see why anyone would want to claim Indigenous heritage to falsely vote at a Voice election.

There would be no immediate benefit in it for them.

In signing a statutory declaration to say that you are Indigenous, you are confirming that you have passed the three-part test of Aboriginality, which is also set out in the SA Voice model.

The criteria of; ‘the person must identify as Aboriginal, the Aboriginal community must recognise the person as Aboriginal, and the person is Aboriginal by way of descent.’.

If you are lying, you face the same penalty as anyone else would who commits voter fraud, and that is a term of up to four years imprisonment.

I do not believe someone is going to go completely out of their way to falsely claim Indigenous heritage just so they can cast a fraudulent vote on the SA Voice. That sounds a bit far fetched.

However, Ms Price’s claims are not without influence, as there are many in Australia who have and continue to falsely claim Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage because they can reap certain benefits.

They usually do it to steal from taxpayer-funded Indigenous programs that are there to address the widespread disadvantage we face as a direct result of government policies that have impacted harshly on us for generations.

Yes, people do falsely claim Indigenous heritage to gain certain benefits, but you would not see their false claim if it meant they were to live with the realities Indigenous people face every day.

The Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton, South Australian Senator Kerrynne Liddle and Senator Jacinta Price. Picture: NCA/NewsWire Emma Brasier

They would not falsely claim if it meant their life expectancy was shortened by 10 years. They would not claim if it meant they were more likely to experience racism in everyday life. They would not claim it if it meant lower levels of education and employment for their family and they would not do it if it meant there was a greater chance of their children coming into contact with the justice system.

In saying that, I understand that there are many people out there who may have recently discovered they have Indigenous heritage somewhere in their family lineage and are on a journey to reconnect.

Most of these cases are directly related to the trans-generational impacts of the Stolen Generations and families being misplaced and denied their heritage and culture.

For those people, I say all the power to you and I wish you well on your journey of self-discovery.

However, if you are claiming your Indigenous heritage just to reap a benefit afforded to Indigenous people, then you are taking away an opportunity for someone who genuinely needs it. This has a wider impact on that person missing out and their family.

With the SA Voice, Ms Price’s claims that there will be a huge uptick in the numbers of people falsely claiming Indigenous heritage to cast a vote is completely different to those who do it for immediate benefits.