The Voice: the search for equity

The objective of The Voice Referendum is to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It seeks to rectify the injustices done to Australia’s indigenous people by the colonisation of Australia by the English in 1788 and in the years that followed.

Its immediate aim is to establish a permanent well-resourced lobby group to advise the government on matters affecting indigenous people. Importantly, the lobby group would be structured in a way that facilitated local input to decision making.

Longer-term aims include establishing joint sovereignty over Australia and a makarrata commission to document the truth of the history between the original occupants and the colonialists.

As an alternative, I propose a novel solution to 'Close the Gap', and a sustainable solution for those who prefer to live 'on country'.

Whilst most citizens of Aboriginal heritage are living comfortable lives in the modern cities and regional towns of Australia, fully participating in the Australian way of life, there is still a significant proportion – perhaps 20% - who are living dismal existences in dysfunctional communities.  They live a third-world economy existence in the midst of an otherwise first-world economy.

For fifty-six years, governments have worked to ‘Close the Gap’ – to bring the opportunities for work, education and health for indigenous citizens to the same level as the rest of the community. It has not happened. Welfare programs, currently costing about $40 billion a year, delivered through over 3000 Aboriginal corporations have had little impact.

Our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said, “Every Australian wants to know that an Aboriginal or Torres Strait islander baby born today will enjoy an equal right to grow up healthy and safe, to get a great education, find a good job, to live a long and happy life.few would disagree with Albanese’s intent. But many question whether or not The Voice is the best means to achieve this. Or whether it will have any positive effect at all.

The referendum is not some minor matter that can be assessed by agreeing with glib statements of intent or support from celebrities, CEOs of listed companies, or leading sportsmen and women. There are serious philosophical and legal issues here that require understanding, deep thought and analysis of likely consequences. In particular: Should citizens who have descended from the aborigines who were in Australia prior to British settlement be given superior access to government decisions and receive superior benefits to other citizens?

Support for The Voice proposal is not universal. There has been much concern about the effect on the smooth running of government – costs and administrative delays - and the potential for high court challenges that might ensue if it were implemented as proposed.

Some of this concern has been from those who have been opposed to the proposal such as Janet Albrechtsen, Greg Sheridan, and Chris Merritt. But there has also been concern along these lines from supporters such as Julian Leeser, Frank Brennan, and Greg Craven.

The idea that government decisions affecting people’s lives should be made locally is a good one. But does it need the proposed complex political solution? Could a similar result be achieved by simply advising public servants to consult with the local people whose lives they propose to change before implementing new policy? Why have they not been doing this already? Has the National Indigenous Australians Agency, (niaa.gov.au), which has similar aims to The Voice and a staff of over 1000, been ineffective?

There are concerns that The Voice will not, in practice, implement local views. Nyunggai Warren Mundine quotes a submission from the Ngaanyatjarra Council (who represent the traditional owners of a large geographical area covering parts of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)  -  “There’s a real risk that distilling voices from 500 Indigenous clans into a collection of regional groups would effectively nullify authentic Indigenous voices, rendering them meaningless, allowing governments to claim that they have ‘consulted’ Indigenous people”. Mundine believes that “the entire concept of The Voice is based on the false assumption of the homogeneity of Aboriginal people across the nation, as one race. This is something Indigenous Australians have tried to counter for decades. Now we find  government striving to entrench this in the Constitution. It won’t end well.”