‘We need your community to actively pressure politicians’

Australia is headed to a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and Indigenous Australians are expecting active support from the Jewish community

FIRST NATIONS ADVOCATE Thomas Mayor has called on the Jewish community to keep up the pressure on politicians to ensure Prime Minister’s Anthony Albanese’s election night commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart translates into a successful constitutional change.

Mayor has been at the heart of the Uluru campaign since May 2017 when Indigenous leaders made the call for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and a Makarrata commission for truth telling and treaty-making was resolved by First Nations leaders in May 2017.

He was entrusted to carry the sacred canvas of the statement around Australia for 18 months to garner support. Among those who embraced the call quickly were many in the Jewish community.

“There’s been a lot of support from the Jewish community, and we need that support to continue. We need to continue to educate others about what a Voice will mean both practically and symbolically,” Mayor told The Jewish Independent.

“We need your community to actively pressure politicians, not just the Labor Government but also other parties and independents to keep them focused.

“If we don’t work on politicians to keep them focused on achieving this there’s a danger that politicians, being politicians, it may be wound back or delayed, and the government will move on to other issues.”

Mayor said The Voice is essential to closing the gap because it ensures that Indigenous people will be consulted on all issues that affect them.

“A Voice to Parliament will have a huge impact on the disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians because it will mean Indigenous people will be consulted on every issue that affects them. It’s not just Indigenous issues specifically: it’s health, it’s education, it’s every part of government policy. Everything affects us and we need to be involved in making the policies.”

He said the Jewish community, like other migrant communities, understood that achieving Indigenous justice was essential to achieving a nation in which we can all feel a true sense of belonging and a shared pride.

“The constitution is the DNA of who we are as Australians. When we recognise First Nations’ place in this country by establishing a Voice in this country, it will have a great unifying result. What we will all share – older migrants, recent migrants – is becoming part of the over 60,0000 years of continuous culture.

"We can’t say that yet because we haven’t healed but we can all be part of this long, proud, ancient culture – the oldest continuous culture on the planet according to the research.”

Mayor, a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin, said there had been a great excitement among Indigenous people at the Prime Minister’s election night announcement but excitement now has to translate into continued work.

The constitutional change will require a referendum and Australia has a long record of failed referenda: 36 of the 44 put since Federation have failed.

“I’m not naïve enough to think it’s going to be easy, but I am confident,” said Mayor.

Polling shows more than 60% of Australians now support the Uluru Statement, which calls for the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and a Makarrata Commission, to enable a process of truth-telling and a treaty.

Mayor said getting Labor to the point of the commitment it made on Election Night had taken concerted effort.

“It can’t take for granted that a party is so committed. We’ve done the work; we’ve mobilised voters and we have seen the number of supporters lift.”

Mayor said a successful referendum was not dependent on bipartisan support.

“There will be a “no” case. There will be some politicians who oppose it and at least one group, likely the IPA (Institute of Public Affairs). But the overwhelming majority of organisations are going to support this both financially and through other means.

But he hopes moderate Liberals will come on board.

“If they don’t learn the lessons of this election that this extreme right-wing view of world is not palatable to the majority of Australians, they will be left behind.”

Mayor credits the rise of a younger generation that has been educated on historical truth for the widespread support for The Voice and for truth-telling.

There is now a body of published work, documentaries and feature films that means many Australians understand how Aborigines suffered during the European invasion, through generations of discriminatory policies and the continuing inequities that mean Indigenous health, education, economic and social welfare is still well below the rest of the nation.

Among that influential work are Mayor’s own books including Finding the Heart of the Nation and his most recent, “Dear Son: Letters and Reflections from First Nations Fathers and Sons”. He has also written Freedom Day, a children’s book about Vincent Lingiari.

“All the work that’s been done on truth-telling and reconciliation is now culminating in this opportunity to have a Voice to Parliament.”

Photo: Thomas Mayor with the Uluru Statement from the Heart (supplied)