Election 2022: Aussies ready for Indigenous voice, say Uluru authors

Indigenous Australians who have led the campaign for a voice in the Constitution for the past five years say the nation is ready.

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Megan Davis. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

Indigenous Australians who have led the campaign for a voice in the Constitution for the past five years say the nation is ready and ask the Albanese government to draft a bill and set a timeline for a referendum.

Incoming Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has said building a consensus on a constitutionally enshrined ­Indigenous voice would require patience and negotiation. Ms Burney said this could not be rushed.

However, Thursday is the fifth anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for a voice, and the document’s architects say the nation is ready.

“It’s been a big five years. We’ve done a lot of work to get ready for this moment,” said Uluru Dialogue co-chair Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman and Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of NSW.

“There is renewed energy and a great sense of hope as we begin to prepare for a referendum on a Voice to Parliament in the first term of parliament.

“We know Australia is ready for this and we’re confident we have the impetus and momentum to turn the Uluru Statement proposal for a Voice to Parliament into tangible action. Next steps are confirming a timeline for referendum and the drafting of a bill.

“History is calling, and we will continue to work towards creating a better future for all Australians by working alongside the federal government on a date for a referendum.”

Indigenous delegates from around Australia presented the Uluru Statement from the Heart to the Australian people on May 26, 2017, at the National Constitutional Convention at Uluru. It was the culmination of talks with around 1200 Indigenous people in all states and territories – called the Uluru Dialogues – about what constitutional recognition looked like for them.

The previous government was committed to work towards constitutional recognition of ­Indigenous Australians in some form and went to the 2019 and 2022 elections with funds set aside for a referendum on this.

However, former prime minister Scott Morrison never committed to a referendum that would ask Australians if they wanted to put the voice in the Constitution. On May 2, less than three weeks before the federal election, he told reporters: ““It’s not our policy to have a referendum on the voice, so why would I be doing that?”

However, the Coalition believed the Indigenous voice could work well as a local, regional and national advisory body to government and parliament. Between 2019 and 2022, former Indigenous Australians minister Ken Wyatt oversaw work to settle the design of a voice that would be legislated only. A final report, overseen by Indigenous academic Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, described an advisory body with representatives from 35 regions offering advice that was non-binding.

The Coalition must now choose if it will offer bipartisan support to the Albanese government on a referendum that asks Australians to decide if the voice should be written into the Constitution.