Failure of all sides of politics to pick up the pieces after the Voice defeat is a national disgrace

One year on from the crushing defeat of the Voice referendum, the failure from all sides of federal politics to pick up the pieces and work on alternative ways to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians is nothing short of a national disgrace.

The Voice.Credit: Matt Davidson

The uncomfortable truth is that progress has not just stalled but gone backwards since the historic referendum campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament was rejected by 60.6 per cent of voters and supported by just 39.94 per cent.

The whole point of the argument for a Voice to parliament was that Indigenous affairs was in a terrible state and needed more attention. The Voice to parliament was defeated for reasons already well-ventilated, but that should not have given way to malaise, paralysis and near-total silence on Indigenous affairs from our political leaders.

As the Herald’s Paul Sakkal writes today, the goal of giving Indigenous Australians more say over issues that directly affect them has given way to a sense of voicelessness.

Much of the blame for this falls on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Despite his best intentions, it was the prime minister who took the referendum to the people and failed to adequately make the case for it. Albanese has the levers of government at his disposal to push on with reform but has shown little interest in doing so. Equally, Dutton and his colleagues have done nothing to offer their own policy vision should the Coalition claim the next federal election. It is a depressing state of affairs.

However, this silence is nothing new, according to high-profile Yes advocate Thomas Mayo. That void was one of the reasons Indigenous Australians asked for the Voice in the first place, he says. He also says Indigenous affairs was used as a political opportunity to wedge the Labor government and “they got wind in their sails from keeping us voiceless”.

“The other side [Labor] has returned back to the status quo, which is having no vision for Indigenous affairs,” Mayo tells the Herald today. That is certainly true. But it is as true for both federal Labor and the Coalition.

In an opinion piece for the Herald, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Katie Kiss says many First Nations Australians feel more disillusioned than ever and rejected in their own lands.

“One year on from the referendum, this country is crying out for a reframed and reconciled relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians – one that is grounded in truth, justice, and healing,” Kiss, a Kaanju and Birri/Widi woman, writes. “Doing what we’ve been doing is not working. It’s driving us further apart.”

Australia must do better on one of the most important issues our country faces. The time for mourning and fighting over the result has come and gone. It should not be beyond our capacity to respect the referendum result but push on with other ways of helping some of the most disadvantaged people in Australian society.

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