REIP Inside Real Estate – 31st May 2023 - Real Estate Industry Partners

Later this year, Australian’s will be asked to cast their vote on the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of information flying around that only serves to confuse rather than clarify what Australian’s are actually been asked to vote on.

I recently read a great article by Ian Hamm, Chairperson of the First Nations Foundation that articulated the situation beautifully. Some excerpts from that article are below.

Most Australians know of the appalling life measures for Aboriginal people – shorter lives, poorer health, greater poverty and inequality before the law.

There are many reasons why this is the case, but one of the main ones is that parliaments, governments, ministers and bureaucracies can sometimes make ill-informed decisions that negatively impact first nations communities because they aren’t speaking to Aboriginal representatives.

Would any other part of Australian society tolerate this? I don’t think so….

While there are some fantastic Aboriginal bodies and organisations around, they each (quite rightly) have a specific focus eg health, child care, and the legal and justice system.

And yes, we do have some Aboriginal MPs too, but their job is to represent their constituents, not Aboriginal people as a whole.

Another question that comes up is can’t we legislate the Voice rather than amend our constitution? The short answer is yes, but legislation can also be undone in the future. Even having the Voice in the constitution doesn’t guarantee how effective it would be, but it does mean that governments now, and in the future, will be forced to deal with it.

We live in a democracy, and while I am a supporter of the Voice, everyone is entitled to their own vote. I’d encourage all of us to try to look beyond the political smoke and mirrors and ask ourselves if we want to support improved life measures for our first nations people.

Until next time.

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