Most remote Indigenous FNQ communities ‘more worried about day-to-day survival’ than Voice

Some of the neediest Indigenous remote communities say they neither understand nor care about the Voice, arguing there are far more pressing issues they’re dealing with on a daily basis.

• Diseases killing two Aussies a week

Some of the neediest Indigenous remote communities in Queensland’s Far North say that they neither understand nor care about the Voice, arguing that everyday challenges for survival, such as drinking water storage, are far more pressing.

Despite headlines trumpeting a recent push by Yes campaigner Noel Pearson, who has attracted support from regional bodies across Cape York and the Torres Strait, some community leaders there say that the referendum campaign has gained little traction on the ground.

“Why would I care?” asked one prominent community leader.

“The Voice isn’t going to make any difference.”

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Cape York remote community leaders confront immediate concerns, such as squabbles between clans, chronic health problems and the logistics and funding for accessing basic services.

Marked by untamed wilds and big mining, the northern tip of Australia includes remote communities such as Mapoon, Napranum and Aurukun.

Some communities are inaccessible by road for months a year during the wet season.

Alcohol flows through supposedly dry communities here.

Riots in Aurukun in 2020 compelled 120 or more residents to hide in the bush, fearful of a so-called lynch mob of 80 people, some armed with tomahawks.

School attendance rates of 80 per cent in these parts are lauded as tales of success.

The Voice referendum is expected to be held in October.

Yet over three days in Cape York communities, across dozens of interviews, not one local resident identified the Voice to NewsCorp as a big discussion point.

A demoralised former local councillor of one community said: “I’ve dabbled in politics but I don’t even know what it’s about really.

“Ultimately, I feel it won’t make any difference.”

Dr Fiona Wirrer-George, a traditional owner from Napranum, south of Weipa, says the Voice narrative requires a way of thinking at odds with the everyday issues.

Dr Fiona Wirrer-George is a traditional owner from Napranum, south of Weipa. Picture: David Caird

“A different kind of narrative preoccupies the mindset of Western Cape mob,” she says.

“I don’t think it (the Voice) is forefront. It should be.”

A children services worker said: “There are a history of programs put forward to support communities. People have just switched off a little bit.”

Another worker said: “Most of my clients are more worried about day-to-day survival.”

Closing the Gap statistics depict inherent hardships shared by many very remote Indigenous communities across the nation.

People in very remote communities collectively live almost 15 years less than the rest of the population.

Suicide rates are far higher, as are incarceration rates.

Opportunities suffer in the face of year 12 measures, which shows a 41.7 per cent rate of completion compared with the nation’s 96 per cent.

Mum Lisa Tabulai with her son John Tabulai, 3. Picture: David Caird

Employment rates for 25-64-year-olds are at 35 per cent (compared with 62 per cent) while the number of 15-24-year-olds in employment, education or training is well under half the 67 per cent target set down by 2031.

Overcrowded housing is said to be a starting point for displacement, while cycles of incarceration for young men have been likened to a “form of initiation”.

Cape York communities share a collective history of paternalism and neglect from authorities.

Efforts by mining companies to have some communities closed or moved remain civil sources of defiance two generations later.

In Mapoon, north of Weipa, the 60th anniversary of “the burning” – when the community’s staunchest defenders were forcibly removed and resettled 200km north – will be commemorated in September.

The only overt sign that the Voice is a talking point at all is Yes memorabilia, such as caps and stickers, in the office of Napranum Mayor Janita Motton.

Mapoon carpenter Jaydon West-Busch, 23, at one of his favourite places, Red Beach. Picture: David Caird

Yes campaigners have steadfastly argued that Closing the Gap imperatives will be addressed by a Voice.

Mr Pearson has promoted community voices from the Torres Strait and Cape York, which would unite as a regional voice that could regularly meet with state and federal governments to discuss shared goals, such as health and education.

Speaking last month in Brisbane, he said blaming Indigenous people for not closing the gap would be “legitimate” – “but give us a say in the decisions that are made about us before you do”.

“This is the message of the Voice – by having a voice, we will be responsible for closing the gap,” Mr Pearson said.

Various community workers in Napranum cite recent suicides and a scarcity of housing in their fears that the gap there has actually widened in recent years.

Jaydon West-Busch, a 23-year-old carpenter in Mapoon, says national benchmarks don’t count for much in Cape York.

“It’s not a conversation that comes up every day,” he says.

“I think that’s really a thing that gets talked about in the city.

“It does get talked about here, don’t get me wrong.

“But up here we live in another world, mate.”

Originally published as Most remote Indigenous FNQ communities ‘more worried about day-to-day survival’ than Voice