Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. - Photo:bigstock.com
St Columbans Mission Society supports the submission by Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) to the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process. (see CRA’s submission below)
The Indigenous Voice Co-Design Process was announced by the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP, in response to the call from the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the subsequent report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The co-design process saw three Indigenous Voice co-design groups, comprised of 52 members from around Australia, work together to develop the detail of what an Indigenous Voice could look like and how it could work, in both national and local/regional forms. Their proposals were presented to the wider Australian public for feedback.
CRA’s submission to the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process focuses on the importance of a truly collaborative effort between Indigenous peoples and the government to select a model of the Voice, and the need for the Voice to be constitutionally enshrined via a referendum, to safeguard the Voice from changes in government policy.
The CRA submission says: “CRA wholeheartedly supports the call of the Uluru Statement from the Heart (the Uluru Statement) to both Parliament and the Australian people, for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament, that will enhance the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the democratic life of the Australian state.”
The submission goes on to say: “We support the statement of the Indigenous Voice Co-design Interim Report (2020) that ‘the right option will be determined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in each region or local community’.”
The submission says: “For the Co-design Process to be successful, it is vital that the Voice is safeguarded from any changes in decision by future governments… Therefore, CRA calls for enshrinement of the Voice in the Australian Constitution through referendum.”
The submission concludes: “We invite and call on you [the Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP], our representative in Parliament, to take the lead in shining a light that helps us see that acceptance of our First Peoples and multiculturalism are positive realities and that difference and diversity can reveal great wisdom and deepen our unity as a nation. We will be richer for this meeting of minds.”
Columban Fr Kevin O'Neill is currently on the Peace, Ecology and Justice (PEJ) Team at St Columban's, Essendon.
