Published: 28 May 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
AN ALLIANCE OF PROGRESSIVE Australian Jewish advocacy groups has reaffirmed its support for an amendment of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Constitution, and for the establishment of truth-telling process as a path to reconciliation.
A statement released this week by 16 groups, titled Voice, Treaty, Truth – Jewish organisations reaffirm support for First Nations Australians from the heart, invited all Australian Jewish organisations to declare their support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
The alliance includes groups from the political, environmental, gender equality and youth spheres.
“We recognise the deep moral and political significance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in our own hearts,” says the statement, which was released to coincide with National Reconciliation Week (May 27-June 3).
“Jews have also experienced the deep silence that follows atrocity and genocide, the experience of being abandoned by humanity, the struggle for recognition of confronting truths, and the tormenting powerlessness of not being heard,” says the statement.
Robin Margo, a spokesman for the signatories, said: “although some Indigenous people disagree with the [Statement from the Heart], it is a unique and remarkable national Indigenous statement, an historic consensus position of the overwhelming majority of First Nations peoples in Australia.
“The Law Council of Australia and 22 law firms have endorsed the Uluru Statement and two former Chief Justices of Australia, Murray Gleeson AC and Robert French AC, have confirmed that what it asks for is consistent with, and would not derogate in any way from, the sovereignty of Parliament, the rule of law or Australia’s democratic traditions.”
The statement is signed by Aleph Melbourne, Ameinu Australia, Betar Australia, Emanuel Synagogue, Habonim Dror Australia, Hashomer Hatzair Australia, Inner West Chavurah, Jewish Voices for Peace and Justice (NSW), Jewish Labour Bund, Kehilat Nitzan (Melbourne), Meretz Australia, Netzer Australia, NIF Australia, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Skif and Stand Up.
READ THE JEWISH GROUPS' STATEMENT IN FULL
Any individuals who support the Jewish groups statement are invited by the signatories to like it on Facebook
STAN GRANT: Three years on from Uluru, we must lift the blindfolds of liberalism to make progress (The Conversation)
