Key Points
- Friday marks six years since the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
- Enshrining a Voice the constitution was a key recommendation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
- A key advocate says a Yes vote would bring a "sigh of relief".
Australians backing a Voice to Parliament would be a moment of "completion" and "new hope" for Indigenous people who have spent years working for change, a working group member says.
Indigenous leaders will meet at Uluru on Friday to mark six years since Australians first heard t, and months before they vote on one of its key recommendations: the Voice.
The Uluru Statement emerged from two years of consultation with Indigenous communities, before five years during which the former Coalition government .
Voice working group member Sally Scales says a successful referendum would be a "sigh of relief". Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"There'll be an element of completion. There's an element of new hope ... Hopefully I'll be sleeping in as well!" she told SBS News.
The 2017 Uluru Statement called for a Voice to be enshrined in the constitution, to be followed by the creation of a Makarrata commission which would facilitate negotiations on Truth-telling and Treaty processes.
The body would be made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people advising the government on issues particularly impacting Indigenous Australians. It would not have a veto power over laws.
"We need to be a part of that decision-making. With my son, I’ve been talking about King Arthur's round table. We need to be at that round table,” Ms Scales said.
'Power back to communities'
Ms Scales, who is from remote SA, said some confusion in remote communities evaporated when the concept was clearly explained.
"When you start to talk to communities, people get turned on this one word: the 'Voice'. People don't know the Voice," she said.
"But when you talk about community control, when you talk about community voices, when you talk about that power back to communities, that's what the people want."
The Coalition opposes the Voice to Parliament, leader Peter Dutton criticising a lack of detail over how the body would function, and what he calls the Labor's "reckless" approach.
“Australians will be asked to vote on a constitutional change that has not been fully scrutinised and is fundamentally uncertain," he said this week.
And polls suggest the No campaign has dented support for the Voice, Resolve finding this month it had fallen to 53 per cent - 10 per cent lower than in August.
But Ms Sales dismissed concerns over the Yes campaign's trajectory - "This is the most over-polled thing ever" - and said "sitting down and talking to people" was key to convincing people who were potentially apathetic to change.
“[Talking about] the fact that it's not limiting anyone else's power or functionality. It's not limiting even the politician's functionality. All it's doing is allowing us to be a part of the decision-making when it comes to our community," she said.
"Where people get to is that this is the simplest thing, this is the most right thing to do."
Australian Opposition Leader Peter Dutton speaks during a debate on the constitutional alteration. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
This week, Mr Dutton labelled the Voice "Orwellian" and claimed it would leave Indigenous people "more equal than others".
Ms Scales feared the debate would get "uglier" as voting day neared, but was optimistic about the broad support already announced.
"When you see companies and sporting clubs coming out in support of it, it's because [the Statement] was also issued to them. The invitation was extended to them, they've answered the call," she said.
