State is ‘not lost’ on Voice Yes vote, says Indigenous leader Noel Pearson

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson is confident Queenslanders will vote Yes when it comes time for the Voice to parliament referendum.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson is confident Queenslanders will vote Yes when it comes time for the Voice to parliament referendum.

The land-rights activist said Queensland was key for the Voice to be successful, in a call to arms for people in the state to vote Yes for the change to the constitution.

Despite most opinion polls tracking a majority No vote in Queensland, Mr Pearson said he did not believe the state was lost.

Australians will head to the polls in October, for the first referendum in 24 years, and vote on whether or not they support formally recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first inhabitants of the nation and putting in place a constitutionally enshrined Voice.

Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher, Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, and Aurukun Mayor Keri Tamwoy at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane on Monday. Picture: Liam Kidston

If established, the Voice will be an advisory body to parliament and the federal government, providing input on policy matters affecting First Nations peoples – including health, education, and economic disadvantage.

Mr Pearson, speaking at the Queensland Media Club in Brisbane alongside two Far North Queensland Aboriginal community mayors, said the proposed change was “modest yet profound”.

He said the nation could “close the gap” on Indigenous disadvantage, but First Nations people needed to be able to “scale the good things” and that needed government to “work with us, not against us”.

“We’ll close this gap; we can’t rely on anybody else to close this gap other than the people affected by this problem,” Mr Pearson said.

But he noted First Nations people made up 3 per cent of the Australian population, and the referendum could not be won unless the other 97 per cent “seize the opportunity”.

Rowena Welsh-Jarrett and Jacqui Jarrett speak at the Come Together for Yes event in Sydney on Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Monique Harmer

Lockhart River Mayor Wayne Butcher highlighted the “roller-coaster” of laws and policies put in place by government depending on who is in power – with previous advisory bodies at federal and state level created and axed.

Aurukun Mayor Keri Tamwoy said the multimillion-dollar health-care system was failing First Nation’s people “miserably”, revealing she would prepare for two funerals when she returned home.

“And I sit here with heavy heart because how many of our people must continue to die well before their age before Australia does the right thing by us? We are all Australians,” she said.

Mr Pearson described Queensland as “ground zero”, evoking the legacy of the state’s great Indigenous leaders, such as land rights champion Eddie Mabo.

“Not for one minute do I believe the state is lost,” he said.

This despite numerous polls in recent months tracking a majority No vote in Queensland.

In order for the referendum to succeed a “double majority” – a majority of voters in four of six states and national majority of voters – will be needed.