‘The spotlight’s on Australia’: Indigenous diplomat says world took note of Voice vote

Paris: Justin Mohamed, like so many others in his Indigenous family, struggled with the thought of what the day would bring on October 15.

He had been appointed to the role of Australia’s Ambassador for First Nations People a few months earlier, and the Indigenous Voice referendum result the previous night had him questioning not only his future in the job but also his place in society.

Ambassador for First Nations People, Justin Mohamed, says the spotlight is on Australia after the failure of the Voice.Credit: Kiran Ridley

“I’m not sure I could have been true to myself if I didn’t,” he says in a suburban Paris hotel. “Of course, it was personal. Yes or no, it was always going to be a defining moment.”

“It really made me question this role, and how and what impacts can I make, and how committed the government was to its goals.”

In the months that followed Mohamed has been at the coalface when foreign governments ask: what happened?

He won’t go as far as to say the referendum, where 60 per cent of Australians voted no to establishing an Indigenous advisory body in the Constitution, has damaged the country’s international standing. But he says the eyes of the world are now focused on Australia.

“I think most countries understand how difficult it is to get a referendum through, so there was some sympathy … they get it, it’s not an easy process,” he says.

“However, it’s what Australia does next and how we did it that counts. The world is watching … the spotlight’s on Australia. For all the right reasons and wrong reasons.

“If we stumble, they’ll see that now. If we move forward, they will see that too.”

Mohamed’s diplomatic role, the first of its kind among leading world economies, came from an Albanese government election promise to work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to progress Indigenous rights globally through international forums such as the United Nations, and help grow First Nations trade and investment.

A Yes supporter reacts the inner west ‘Yes2023’ official referendum function on October 14, 2023.Credit: Getty

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at the time of Mohamed’s appointment, in March 2023, that it was part of elevating the perspectives of First Nations people – the land’s first diplomats – to help deepen international engagement with many of Australia’s closest partners, particularly in the Pacific.

Mohamed, a Gooreng Gooreng man originally from Bundaberg, Queensland, has been an Indigenous leader for more than 30 years in the Aboriginal community-controlled government and corporate sectors on issues spanning health, social justice, human rights and reconciliation.

Most recently, he was the deputy secretary of Aboriginal justice in the Victorian government, and he has also held the position of chief executive of Reconciliation Australia and chaired the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

He was clear when offered the role that he was not prepared to be an apologist for the federal government’s lack of progress on Indigenous issues. At a United Nations forum last year he had to respond to a presentation for an Aboriginal group that shamed the Northern Territory government for its failures in responding to the Don Dale royal commission’s recommendations.

Justin Mohamed says because his role is both a first in Australia and globally, there’s no real blueprint on how it should work.Credit: Kiran Ridley

“It was a fact, the least I could do was acknowledge that was the truth,” he says. “You can’t make up a whole lot of reasons why it hasn’t happened … the truth is it hasn’t happened.

“There is definitely room for improvement, there’s a number of things that we aren’t getting right. I think the more you try to skirt around that or hide that, you never really take the time to say how we’re going to address it because you spend most of the energy trying to manoeuvre around and sidestep the truth that is in front of you.”

In the same week he is in Paris for diplomatic talks, including at UNESCO, there is a story in the French newspaper Le Monde condemning Australia’s high rate of Indigenous children being removed from their families and in child detention.

As the face of Indigenous Australians around the world, how can he justify this?

“Child protection issues, the number of Indigenous children and young people that are removed from their parents in Australia is unacceptable. These numbers the world can see. It is internationally known. And it shouldn’t be. That, together with incarceration rates, is something that has to change, and we can’t settle for anything less,” he says.

“But there are things on a world stage that we can be proud of and there are things where we are a long way behind on. This is why we have to be transparent about these things. We can also learn from the Indigenous experience elsewhere in the world, from South America, from Canada … many other places.”

As part of his European mission, he was involved in the conclusion of a landmark treaty that established a new form of legal recognition for Indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge in the international intellectual property system at the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. For the first time, applicants will be required to disclose the origin or source of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications.

“Part of this role is fighting for Indigenous peoples to have the rights to speak about issues that affect them in these kinds of forums,” he says. “And it’s now generating a broader conversation in places like UNESCO and OECD and other UN forums.

“The world is watching ... the spotlight’s on Australia. For all the right reasons and wrong reasons.”

Justin Mohamed on the international reaction to the failure of the Voice referendum.

“We know that Indigenous communities will be affected the most by climate change. So we should be at the table. And we know in Australia that we’ve also got a lot to contribute.”

Mohamed says because his role is both a first in Australia and globally, there’s no real blueprint.

“We can’t head off over to another country to get a sense of how they established or what their priorities were or the path they walked,” he says. “It’s exciting, but it comes with a bit of responsibility to ensure the first steps we take are the right ones.”

“The response I’ve had globally from many other First Nations groups, but also governments, has been both warm and curious.”

Ultimately, Mohamed remains an optimist. He knows he won’t change the world but hopes his contribution in the role is to bring a sharper focus on Indigenous human rights and also promote Australian success stories to the world.

“This role isn’t going to fix every issue, it’s not going to achieve everything we want to do, but it’s about setting up the pathway, to ensure that we have the right people speaking for First Nations people,” he says.

“We’ve got so many Indigenous people who have the expertise on Country, and combining that with modern science and education, it becomes world-leading as well.”

As a former head of Australia’s reconciliation movement, he hasn’t given up hope of that either.
He says the referendum was heartbreaking for many Indigenous Australians, but our people are resilient.

“The reason why we’re still here, and the reason why we are the oldest living culture in the world, is that when we are faced with challenges or disappointments that hurt us and threaten to stop progress, we do not sit back or stand still,” he says.

“We’ve proven time and time again that we have been able to pick ourselves up and take th next step and having the strength of our elders and the aspirations of future generations that things will be better.”

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