Jewish community says Yes to The Voice

Indigenous leader MARCIA LANGTON launched Kol Halev, the Jewish campaign for The Voice, with a plea for an Australia where people of all backgrounds have an ‘honourable place’.

Leading Jewish organisations have come together to urge Jewish Australians to vote Yes in the referendum to be held later this year.

Kol Halev, meaning All the Heart, will campaign for constitutional recognition and a Voice to advise Parliament on issues affecting Indigenous people.

 The campaign was launched in Melbourne this week, with a keynote speech by Indigenous leader Professor Marcia Langton.

Langton said that recognising First Peoples in the constitution would create a framework for Australia that did not prioritise British heritage and recognised the diverse backgrounds of Australians.

“The Australian constitution is an act of the British Parliament in Westminster. it is entirely British. Now, so many years later, Australia is a very different place. There is your community and other communities like yours who came at various times in Australian history who are not descendants of the British,” she told the Jewish audience.

“We are asking simply for recognition, a constitutional right to have an advisory body to advise parliament as the mechanism of recognising us, whose ancestors came here 65,000 years ago. What will this achieve? This will enrich the constitution, so it is not simply a British document to unite the colonies but a constitution that more reflects the Australia we live in today.”

Langton said The Voice was a modest proposal which did not give Indigenous people different rights from other Australians, only the right to be consulted on matters concerning Indigenous people.