Joe Hildebrand: One thing that could derail voice campaign

Australia is on the cusp of a historic change to its constitution but there is one thing that could bring it all crashing down at the final hurdle.

Australia is on the cusp of the greatest and most historic change to its constitution since Federation itself.

And yet there is one thing that could bring it all crashing down at the final hurdle.

The election campaign was dominated overwhelmingly by kitchen table issues like inflation and interest rates, national security issues like China’s encroachment into the South Pacific and global issues like climate change.

And yet another issue kept bobbing up not only to the surprise of the electorate but to the surprise of the very people who have spent years championing it: The enshrining of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

This might not put any extra money in workers’ back pockets or save us from China or reduce carbon emissions but it will be a balm on our national soul.

And much like the bipartisan commitment to net zero has helped finally end the climate wars, it might help finally end the culture wars.

It should be so simple and in many ways it is. In fact it is right within our grasp.

Recent polling has found there is overwhelming majority support for an enshrined Voice to Parliament. Not only do an overwhelming majority of Australians support it but so — according to early indicators — do a majority of states.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s very first pledge in accepting victory on Saturday night was enshrining a Voice for First Nations people. Picture: David Gray/Getty Images.

This is a very big deal. Australia’s constitution — a slender, skeletal document that is in some ways elegantly sparse and in others quaintly specific — is infamously difficult to change. A majority of people in four out of six states must support it, as well as a majority overall.

I am told rough preliminary numbers indicate at least five out of six states have majority support — an incredibly promising sign — although sample sizes are sketchy and organisers are reluctant to lean too heavily on them.

More tangible is the groundswell of support, with organisers saying they are getting thousands of donations from as little as $5 — uncannily similar to the grassroots fundraising movement that propelled Barack Obama to the US Presidency.

Moreover the incoming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s very first pledge in accepting victory on Saturday night was enshrining a Voice for First Nations people and just yesterday the heads of every major religion in Australia declared their support.

If this momentum holds it means that the stage is set for the greatest act of reconciliation since the 1967 referendum and I would argue even more important than that.

Yet within days of the election red flags have been rocketing up that have caused concern at the highest levels of the Voice movement.

And just as the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, the most alarming of these have come from those supposedly in favour of it.

They range from both idealistic and cynical speculation about what a Voice might look like to linking the Voice referendum to Australia becoming a republic — an entirely separate and unrelated issue.

If you want to grasp just how damaging this could be, you only need consider that one of the most prominent early champions of Indigenous recognition was former prime minister Tony Abbott — also one of the most prominent campaigners against the failed republic vote.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was one of the most prominent campaigners against the failed republic vote. Picture: Luke Bowden.

In short, constitutional recognition for an Indigenous Voice will require mass support from the electorate, including many conservatives — something it already has. The best way to derail the whole thing is to make people think it is a gateway to further radical changes or a radical change in itself.

The second best way to derail it is to have proponents arguing about one particular model over another, as happened with the republican referendum. Despite a majority of Australians favouring a republic, the vote was defeated by a splinter group of direct electionists siding with the monarchists — far flung enemies united only in what they opposed.

And so the best thing republicans, ideologues and other thought bubblers can do for Indigenous recognition is either simply get on board or shut the proverbial up.

Little wonder that From the Heart campaign director Dean Parkin, as impressive a man as I have ever met, was both surprised and enraptured by the primacy of Albanese’s commitment on election night while also worried by the feverish speculation that followed.

Former minister Ken Wyatt leading a two-year co-design process on a Voice. Picture Kym Smith

“For the many people who have been working towards a referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition through a Voice to Parliament, Anthony Albanese’s commitment in his acceptance speech on Saturday night was a huge moment,” he told me.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest since which shows how important this issue is to many Australians.”

But he added: “There’s been a bit of unfounded speculation creep in too, people getting a bit ahead of themselves.

“An incredible amount of work has been done in preparation for this opportunity, including by Indigenous people through the Uluru Statement and the former minister Ken Wyatt leading a two-year co-design process on a Voice.

“We know Australians will want to get involved and understand the details of what a Voice means. We look forward to seeing Linda Burney be sworn in as the first Indigenous woman to be Minister for Indigenous Affairs and believe her deep experience will ensure this issue is handled in a sensible way that delivers on the Prime Minister’s commitment to a referendum on a Voice.”

Sensible. That is the only way to achieve a moment so fragile and yet so vital to our future and our history.

It will make right what once was wrong. And it will enable all of us, black and white, to be finally, truly, proudly Australian.

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Originally published as Joe Hildebrand: One thing that could derail voice campaign