Voice referendum Tasmania: palawa elder Rodney Dillon launches Franklin campaign
A ‘No’ vote in the upcoming Voice referendum would mean that Australia has decided to accept the permanent disadvantage of its Aboriginal people, a palawa elder has told a Hobart rally.
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A ‘No’ vote in the upcoming Voice referendum, to be held on October 14, would mean that Australia has decided to accept the permanent disadvantage of its Aboriginal people, a palawa elder has told a rally on Hobart’s Eastern Shore.
Rodney Dillon, chairman of the Aboriginal Heritage Council and co-founder of the Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance, addressed a crowd of about 100 at the Yes23 Franklin Referendum Campaign Launch at Rosny Park’s Kangaroo Bay Parklands on Sunday.
Mr Dillon said his greatest fear in the event of the ‘No’ vote getting up – the latest RedBridge poll has ‘No’ winning 61-39 – was that “nothing would change” for Aboriginal Australians.
“By having a ‘No’ vote I think that we’re saying that it’s okay for people to live 10 years less,” he said.
“It’s okay for kids to stay in that prison system and become career criminals.
“It’s okay for the housing standards of Aboriginals right around this country to stay like it is.
“I’m not prepared to keep accepting what happened in the past.”
Mr Dillon said that a Voice to Parliament was the “greatest step this country will make in my lifetime”.
“This is a step towards us holding our hands and I’ve never always felt that.
“That hand’s not always been out, but at the moment that hand is out by all levels of government.”
Mr Dillon conceded that he was “worried” by the ‘Yes’ campaign’s receding numbers, but noted that Tasmania was in the unique position of having all three major political parties – Liberal, Labor, Greens – on a unity ticket in support of the proposal.
“I’ve never seen that before,” he said.
Greens Senator Nick McKim said that Tasmania was the vital swing state where the referendum could be won or lost.
“There is every chance that the referendum will succeed or fail based on the vote here in Tasmania and that’s why we need to grasp the opportunity,” he said.
“This is a moment in history for our country where we can accept the generous offer made to us by Aboriginal Australians and recognise them in the constitution and take a significant, meaningful step forward along the pathway to bringing our country together.”
Federal minister Julie Collins, the Labor Member for Franklin, said it was a “rare and precious moment” when Australians could change their country’s constitution for the better.
“We’ve been asked because what we’re doing now is not working. We need to change what we’re doing,” she said.
She reminded those gathered that what we were being asked to accept was an “advisory committee” – nothing more, nothing less.
Howrah IT officer Alistair Luckman told the Mercury the Voice was the “right thing to do”.
“It doesn’t impact me directly, but it’s going to be a big change for the people that it’s for,” he said.
Lindisfarne retiree Pat Harvey said a body such as the Voice “should have happened years ago”.
Her son Scott Harvey agreed.
“What we’re being asked to do is right and it’s not a big deal for most people, but it is for Indigenous people,” he said.
EASTERN SHORE VOICE ORGANISER: ‘HOW YOU CAN HELP US WIN’
The organiser of Hobart’s Eastern Shore Voice referendum campaign has called on all Voice supporters to try and earn one ‘Yes’ vote a week by having conversations in the community.
Voice field campaigner Martin Summers, speaking at the Franklin Referendum Campaign Launch at Rosny Park, said that when out doorknocking, “We get between 60–85 per cent say ‘Yes’.”
“If we get a door open, that’s the response we get,” Mr Summers said.
“But there are people we do not hear from. Most people, we have not had the door open.”
Mr Summers called on the “opinion leaders” in the crowd – about 100 attended – to do “three things” to help win the referendum.
“You must have a conversation every week and you must win a vote with that conversation, every week from now until the 14th [October 14],” he said.
Secondly, Mr Summers called on ‘Yes’ supports to write letters to the editor and for other platforms, and thirdly, to volunteer to letterbox drop or doorknock.
“You don’t have to talk to anybody if you are shy, just put the stuff in the letterbox,” he said.
“Three things, every week – get it done. You cannot campaign on the 15th.
“Look around you. These are the people who are going to win this campaign. You must get going.”
Marta Hodul Lenton, the Yes23 Tasmanian State Coordinator, told those gathered: “Every conversation counts. Every conversation can help us to win.”
“The naysayers are out there wanting for us to keep the same old failures, keep ignoring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They’re not going to win,” she said.
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