Labor’s mandate for Uluru, challenge is in the detail

“I commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.” Anthony Albanese’s first words in his victory speech last Saturday night reinforced his mandate to act on the issue. Labor’s pre-election policy was clear. It described the Uluru Statement as a “generous offer of a genuine partnership and a real chance for us to create a reconciled Australia”. The party promised to “progress a referendum to … enshrine a voice to parliament in the Constitution as a matter of priority. We will also establish a Makarrata commission to work with the voice to parliament on a national process for treaty and truth-telling”. It is clear from her exclusive interview with Paige Taylor published on Wednesday that incoming Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney knows she has a big job on her hands to build consensus among Australians. It will take time, patience, discussion and “a little bit of negotiation”, as she said, to bring the community together before they have to vote yes or no. The methodical, sensible approach Ms Burney is planning is the best way to bring the hearts and minds of middle Australia with her.

Not so the Greens, who have shown in previous debates such as that about Wild Rivers laws in Queensland years ago that they would prefer pristine poverty to local enterprise and economic opportunity for some Indigenous communities. Two incoming Indigenous MPs from the Northern Territory from opposite sides of politics – Marion Scrymgour, Labor’s likely victor in the lower house seat of Lingiari, and Country Liberal Party senator-elect Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, are rightly concerned about the direction in which Greens leader Adam Bandt is trying to push the debate. Mr Bandt wants a truth commission and a treaty prioritised over a voice to parliament. “They are important things that we think we can get done during this parliament,” he said on Monday.

His party has baggage on the issue. While the Greens were the first party to fully endorse the Uluru Statement and its call for a voice in 2017, the party changed its policy after Uluru detractor Lidia Thorpe was elected as a Greens senator for Victoria in 2020. Before her political career, Senator Thorpe was one of the activists who walked out of the Uluru meeting. “We as sovereign First Nations people reject constitutional recognition,” she said five years ago. “We do not recognise occupying power or their sovereignty because it serves to disempower, and takes away our voice … We demand a sovereign treaty with an independent sovereign treaty commission, and appropriate funds allocated.”

As Ms Scrymgour says, while the Greens purport to be friends of Indigenous people, they “just want to run their outrageous agendas all the time”. Greens’ extremism and radicalism is very concerning, as Ms Price says. That is why Ms Burney must keep a firm hand on the reconciliation process. As she says, voters need to be clear about what they will be voting for in terms of enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution: “Uluru was absolutely clear … the voice is modest, it is generous and it does not have veto rights that would usurp parliament.” A treaty, as Ms Burney says, is a complex process that would take time. Victoria’s treaty process has been running for almost four years and negotiations have not started. In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the process lasted more than a decade. The truth-telling process that Ms Burney has in mind would involve local governments and would not take the form of court-style hearings. It is vital that it not divide the nation, alienate large swathes of people or degenerate into cancel culture.

Ms Price is correct in noting that Indigenous voices in parliament have never been more plentiful. Nine or 10 Indigenous people will sit in the new parliament. She regards the proposed referendum as a distraction from pressing issues ­ in ­remote communities, especially violence against women and children. She is entitled to that view. But the Albanese government has a mandate for a referendum on constitutional recognition and to establish an Indigenous voice. Ms Burney hopes the Coalition will join Labor in supporting a referendum. Without bipartisanship, a referendum could easily fail. Of 44 referendums in Australia since Federation only eight have succeeded.

Associate editor and Sky News host Chris Kenny, who served on the group appointed by former federal Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt to design a voice to parliament, believes the Coalition should help ensure an Indigenous voice to parliament promoted practical decision- making on issues such as health, education and job creation to help overcome Indigenous disadvantage. The endgame must be improving the lives of disadvantaged Indigenous Australians, especially in remote areas, not championing symbolic gestures.