‘The voice will be tasked with taking the long view’: Linda Burney

Linda Burney addresses the media after the Constitution Alteration Bill was introduced to the federal parliament.

Much has been made of the proactive representations the voice will make to parliament and the government.

Bringing the priorities of local communities to Canberra will be incredibly important.

So will be the requests government makes of the voice. This will be a step-change in our ability to deliver evidence-based policy. Policy that is supported by community, and makes a practical difference.

From day one the voice will have a full in-tray. I will ask the voice to consider four main priority areas: health, education, jobs and housing.

The voice will be tasked with taking the long-view. Unlike government, it won’t be distracted by the 3 year election cycles. It will plan for the next generation, not the next term.

It will be focused on making a better future for the next generation. The time to make a generational difference is now.

We live in an ageing country. Overall, less than a third of Australians are under 25.

However, that rises to more than half for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In the decades ahead, the cost and the consequences of repeating the same mistakes will be amplified.

So too will the benefits if we listen, and do things better. We want the voice to come up with fresh ideas. Fresh ideas than can guide us over the long-term.

The crowd at Come Together for Yes hosted by Yes23 in Adelaide.

As the Minister, when I meet with the voice for the first time I will say: Bring me your ideas on how to stop our people from taking their own lives. Bring me your ideas on how to help our kids go to school and thrive. Bring me your ideas on how we make sure our mob live strong and healthy lives; how we ensure more people have jobs with the independence and purpose that brings.

How we strengthen culture and language. How we support families better. How we keep alive our 65,000 years of culture and make it stronger.

I will be asking the voice for their input to solve these most pressing issues. So, there will be important work in the voice’s in-tray from day one.

It’s not going to be a passive advisory body. I want it to be active and engaged.

We need new perspectives to old challenges perspectives that are connected to communities.

We need ideas that come from the people on the ground. We need a voice.

As my trailblazing sister, June Oscar puts it: “An Indigenous body gives us an opportunity to … elevate our voices in a country where we occupy a space on the fringe of government policy. A voice gives us the ability to address parliament directly through our connections to our communities and regions.”

Friends, voting Yes at the referendum will be a vote to unify and strengthen Australia. Voting Yes will be an act of patriotism. An act of your belief in Australia.

We are the greatest country in the world. And we can be even greater if we recognise Indigenous Australians.

One of the best things about modern Australia – is that so many of us welcome those who come from across the sea to make a new life here.

I see it in my own multicultural community of Barton. We rightly take great pride in welcoming waves of migration over the decades.

And generation after generation of migrants have come to this country because they want a better life for themselves and their family. It is the great Australian story.

But not everyone has enjoyed those same opportunities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not enjoyed those same opportunities – the gap isn’t closing.

Disadvantage and discrimination persist. The good news is that later this year we will all get the chance to do something better.

Together, we can build a better future that recognises Indigenous Australians rightful place in this country. A better future that genuinely listens to the needs and aspirations of Indigenous Australians.

As the Prime Minister said at Garma last year: “In years to come, we will be able to measure the success of the voice not just by the number of people who vote for a voice … but by the lives that the voice helps to change. The communities it empowers, the opportunities it creates, the justice it delivers, the security it will bring to First Nations people around our country.”

Friends, history is calling us. And I hope more than anything that the answer is Yes. Yes to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Yes to a voice to parliament. And Yes to a better future.

Pat Anderson and members of the Referendum Working Group in Canberra.

I want to conclude by quoting a passage from the Uluru Statement from the Heart:

“Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness. We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.”

Friends, it’s time. Ngali Yarhagi barrranjrra, Manwunbul. Let’s get this done, together.

The Hon Linda Burney is Minister for Indigenous Australians. This is an excerpt of the speech she will deliver at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.