‘No seat at the table’: Renewed push for indigenous Voice to Parliament

Indigenous groups are launching a major campaign in a renewed push to finally secure a Voice to Parliament five years on from the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

Indigenous groups are launching a major campaign in a renewed push to finally secure a Voice to Parliament five years on from the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

It is part of a bid to improve Aboriginal health, education and life expectancy outcomes by giving representatives a “seat at the table”, according to the campaign’s organisers.

A Voice would be a body ­created to advise parliament on policies and projects that affect Indigenous ­Australians, with the preferred model being enshrined in the Constitution.

The new education campaign, dubbed History is Calling, will roll out this month and in June, encouraging Australians to support a Voice, according to Uluru Dialogue co-chair and Alyawarre woman Pat Anderson.

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Pat Anderson. Picture: Rohan Thomson

“It’s plain as day to most Australians that politicians and bureaucrats are not closing the gap. For example, I’ve dedicated five decades of my life to Aboriginal health and we have not achieved any shift in entrenched disadvantage and poor health outcomes,” Ms Anderson said.

“This is primarily because we are not asked for input and don’t have a seat at the table.”

Uluṟu Dialogue co-chair professor Megan Davis said the History is Calling campaign was pushing for a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the constitution.

“The Australian Constitution was meant to be changed. The referendum mechanism empowers all Australians to work together to change the nation, as they did in 1967,” Ms Davis said.

The campaign will seek to use social media and radio to explain what a Voice to Parliament is and why it is important.

Labor has so far committed to “progress a referendum” in its first-term, if it wins power on May 21, while the Coalition says its policy does not include a constitutionally-enshrined Voice, instead seeking to legislate one as well as set up smaller “local and regional Voices” through discussions with state and local governments.

An image from the History is Calling campaign, to educate people about the Uluru statement and a Voice to Parliament, which will be launched on Monday. Picture: Supplied

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men are expected to live 8.6 years less than non-indigenous men, while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are expected to live 7.8 fewer years than non-indigenous women.

About 57 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths aged 15-24 are engaged in education or employment, compared with 79.6 per cent of non-indigenous youths.