Indigenous voice to parliament: Migrants ‘unaware’ voting is imminent
A large proportion of the migrant community in a part of Sydney’s inner west doesn’t know the voice referendum is approaching, says Strathfield MP Jason Yat-sen Li.
A large proportion of the migrant community in a part of Sydney’s inner west doesn’t know the voice referendum is approaching, says Strathfield MP Jason Yat-sen Li, as he makes a final pitch to multicultural Australians on the voice.
Mr Yat-Sen Li, who earlier this year highlighted the extent of voice misinformation circulating in Chinese migrant communities, said he had had to build a compelling narrative for Yes among the large Chinese diaspora and other multicultural groups in his electorate.
The Labor MP says many migrants, including his parents, have not had an opportunity to engage deeply with 65,000 years of Indigenous history, making some people susceptible to misinformation.
When Mr Yat-sen Li knocks on a door, he begins with an “elevator pitch” on what the voice is, and then appeals to their sense of “justice” and doing “what’s fair” for Indigenous people, as well as a deep understanding of the “visceral pain of losing one’s ancestral homelands”. He says migrants from the Middle East have had a millennia of disruption and dislocation, while those from Southeast Asia and India, for example, know the harrowing effects of colonisation.
“A very large proportion (of doors we knock on) still have no idea that (the referendum) is coming.
“And that is a good opportunity to engage and to explain as simply and practically as possible what a referendum is … and what the voice actually means,” he told The Australian.
“In a vast majority of cases, I’ve found different migrant communities are really open and accepting of that … They empathise with the discrimination aspect.
“They understand what it feels like to lose their ancestral homelands. There’s a visceral understanding of what that means. And how psychologically and spiritually debilitating that is when it happens because I think a lot of migrants have felt that themselves.”
Mr Yat-sen Li said the hardest part was explaining the “hidden possibility of the referendum” which is “how do you unite a country, bringing together the Indigenous past, and the multicultural present and future”.
Desis for Yes, a Sydney-based grassroots collective of South Asian Australians campaigning for the voice, is working around the clock to win support.
Co-founder Nishadh Rego said there has been significantly more interest and curiosity in the referendum and what it means for Australia among the South Asian community over the past few months.
Mr Rego said it was hard to say what proportion of the community was disengaged but there was “much more work to do”.
Like Mr Yat-Sen Li, the Desis for Yes co-founder said most people in the South Asian community had some understanding, if not experience, of colonialism.
“What we’re trying to do is find those connection points and create space to reflect on what this means through their own experiences …” Mr Rego said.
“And when we have those conversations and find that space to reflect and ask questions and they begin to understand what it is and isn’t, they tend to lean towards Yes.”
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