Last-ditch pitch to Queenslanders on Voice: State has most to lose, Chalmers warns

Queensland-based federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the state should not be underestimated, and warns its high Indigenous population means it had the most at stake in the referendum.

In a last-ditch rallying call on the Voice to Parliament, Queensland-based federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the state should not be underestimated, and warned that its high Indigenous population meant it had more at stake in the referendum than anywhere else in the country.

Meanwhile Yarrabah Mayor Ross Andrews, the head of one of the largest discreet Aboriginal communities in the state, urged Queenslanders to consider a yes vote as being about unity and allowing First Nations Australians to take charge of the solutions towards closing the gap.

Queensland’s 273,100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 5.2 per cent of the state’s population, with only Tasmania and the Northern Territory recording a higher proportion and only NSW having more First Nations people in total.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers

Mr Chalmers said this meant that Queensland had the most to gain from a yes vote at Saturday’s referendum, but also the most to lose if a Voice to Parliament did not proceed.

“Queenslanders are practical and pragmatic people and the Voice is a practical and practical proposal. It’s all about something very simple – listening better, so we get better outcomes,” he said.

“Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being left behind, with lower life expectancy, higher rates of disease and infant mortality, fewer opportunities for education and training, and higher unemployment.

“The current system isn’t working. That’s why Indigenous Australians are asking for a Voice.”

He said Queenslanders were often underestimated, but that he believed the state could rise to the challenge.

“We need more Queenslanders to recognise our current approach isn’t working and we can do better,” Mr Chalmers said.

Cr Andrews said the referendum was an opportunity to change and turn around areas where the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people was widening.

Yarrabah Mayor Ross Andrews. Picture: Nuno Avendano

“Yes is about unity, about uniting a nation. We need our fellow Australians to join us on this movement in making a better future for this country,” he said.

“Irrespective of what the polls are saying, First Nations people, our leaders will be working extremely hard up until Saturday.”

He said it was about creating an advisory body and recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution.

“I believe it will amplify our voices around the country so we get the machinery of government listening to consider our issues on housing, health and education.

“I believe that we know the solutions in our communities.

“We have to get governments to listen to our issues and our solutions.”