Discussion addresses ‘myths’ of the Voice

The event addressed current information out there surrounding the Voice and provided a space for the multicultural community to ask questions and talk with a panel of guest speakers.

Alana Johnson, who is part of the Community Independents Project, which supports independent candidates, facilitated the session featuring panel speakers Yorta Yorta man and City of Greater Shepparton Cr Greg James, human rights advocate Maria Dimopoulos and former Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District manager Chris Hazelman, who are all in favour of the Yes vote.

Cr James began the session by talking about the significance of the 1967 referendum.

In 1967, the Australian people voted in a referendum asking for Aboriginal people to be included in the census and to allow the federal parliament to make specific laws for Aboriginal peoples.

Currently, the Constitution doesn’t recognise or mention First Nations peoples.

Cr James held up a pocket version of the Constitution and talked about how what followed in the 50 years since the 1967 referendum had shown it was time to take the next step.

“My beautiful 65 years of cultural existence lies within one page of this document (the Constitution), which is a Westminster system,” he said.

“So, I look at my heritage, I look at my ancestors, my parents, my grandfather, and I look at this book, and there’s no way I can make the comparison between that law and my lore, and there’s no other way to describe it.

“So I look at this, and I think yep that’s our rite of passage into the Australian bible because we’re excluded at the moment but there’s a chance for us to change that.”

Mrs Dimopoulos pointed out years of cultural misunderstandings within government had shown that the system was not working for Indigenous people.

“When are we going to start listening to the fact that First Nations people are telling us all the policies have not worked?” she said.

“In fact, they’re getting worse.

“This is what my history of multicultural policy has been about. If you want to make a difference to communities, ask them, engage them, enshrine the Voice because I know as a lawyer, legislation comes and goes.

“By enshrining it in our Constitution, we are guaranteeing a much better way forward, an informed, wise way forward by recognising First Nations people.”

Mr Hazelman said some political parties and politicians had misrepresented what a Voice would actually do.

He also said, historically in Australia, referendums had struggled to succeed without bipartisan support.

“People will align themselves along political party lines and they’ll tend to vote the way the party tells them to vote,” Mr Hazelman said.

“That makes life difficult, and when it gets to a political division, which is what’s occurring now, it allows some pretty unseemly and outright horrible stuff for these groups, and it becomes part of mainstream discussion.

“There are things that have been said in this discussion (of the Voice) that you’d rather not see.

“You would rather that our politicians, our national leaders, could have seen a way forward to progress this in an intelligent and respectful way, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Towards the end of the session, attendees were encouraged by panellists to undertake their own research and continue having discussions about the Voice.