Constitutional symbolism is not enough. It is the combination of moral and practical that makes the Voice the right thing to do.
, a collection of essays by multifaith Australians making the moral case for a Yes vote in the Voice referendum. At Hobart’s Parliament House, Rockliff told the multicultural audience that a Voice would empower Indigenous communities to take responsibility in their affairs, to enable better practical outcomes.Dion Georgopoulos
This referendum is not an election. It is a vote of the Australian people. It invites Australians to transcend ordinary political and cultural divides, to unite behind something good for Indigenous people, and good for the country. Merely symbolic constitutional recognition is unviable for three reasons. First, Australians overwhelmingly rejected a symbolic preamble in 1999. Only 39.34 per cent of Australians voted yes. It failed abysmally.
Third, and most importantly, Indigenous Australians have consistently rejected a merely symbolic mention in favour of empowering and practical reform that helps Australia close the gap. Why would Australians endorse a form of recognition Indigenous Australians have said they do not want? We wouldn’t: it would fail, just like in 1999.The Uluru Statement proposed a practical form of constitutional recognition.
We know that this country, which we love so much and which has given us so much opportunity, was built off the back of Indigenous losses. As chief justice Sir Gerard Brennan wrote in his Mabo judgment, “Indigenous dispossession underwrote the development of the nation”. This referendum might be our one chance to give back to Indigenous people; to stand in solidarity with them to achieve the practical recognition they seek.
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