While discussion around a Voice to Parliament has intensified in recent weeks, in the Torres Strait the community is focusing on their own voice - the Voice from the Deep - launched last year.
, or Malungu Yangu Wakay (Voice from the Deep), calls for regional sovereignty in the Torres Strait by 2037, and the local councils in the region are using every chance they can to draw attention to what it means.
It featured heavily at the recent Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival on Thursday Island.
Deputy mayor of Torres Shire Council Gabriel Bani said it was not only important to raise awareness across the Torres Strait region, but also throughout wider Queensland, about the statement.
“We are educating Queensland that any business that is to be done in the Torres Strait is to be done in the context of the Masig Statement,” he said.
“We are talking about a culturally-united path towards 2037, of everyone coming together and making a statement as a People.”
Phillemon Mosby says it is important that the unique needs of the Torres Strait be recognised through the Masig Statement Source: NITV / Keira Jenkins
His council has endorsed the Voice to Parliament but he said the Torres Strait Island region has unique issues and it needed to have unique solutions.
“For years the Torres Strait has been a battle zone and held national interest,” he said.
“I think it’s equally important that Torres Strait Islanders’ views and aspirations for their future and themselves today is escalated to a national level.
It’s important that we don’t become a shadow, but a reality of who we are, where we come from and what the future means for us as Torres Strait Islanders.
Whose path is it?
Queensland’s Path to Treaty legislation passed the state parliament last month, setting the framework in preparation for agreement-making between the state government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mayor Mosby said he was glad to be discussing treaty with the state government but he was concerned the Masig Statement hadn’t been acknowledged within the legislation.
He feared this could lead to the aspirations of the Torres Strait being overlooked.
“It’s the first step but it’s the first step in the right direction for this great state of Queensland,” he said.
“But we question as Torres Strait Islanders, 'Whose path is it'?
“The Masig Statement attests to who we are as a nation of people, where we’ve come from and what the future means for us and our aspirations for the future.
“We’re now asking, 'well whose pathway are we going to make the agreement on' when our pathway is not recognised through the Masig Statement.”
The Masig Statement was launched on Masig (Yorke) Island in August 2022, to mark the 85th anniversary of the first council conference on the same island.
John Abednego, who sits on Torres Shire Council’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, said the statement honoured the people who started the fight for regional self-determination all those years ago.
“This was something that was a response to the 1936 maritime strike. All the workers put down their tools and said 'enough is enough, we want to know about our rights, our wages, and our rights in society'. So they took the stand then in 1936,” he said.
Mr Abednego said the Masig Statement was something that could bring everyone together.
“We call it the Masig Statement but it is for everyone, not just Masig but for everyone, it benefits everyone,” he said.
“We’re talking about self-determination so we can have more control of where we are going.”
A dream for the future
Joey Laifoo mentors young men on Thursday Island Source: NITV / Keira Jenkins
“To have that autonomy and to have our people in decision-making positions can make a change and bring a difference to how the programs and services are delivered to us on the ground,” she said.
“Right now someone else is determining or deciding how we should be managed as a people but that needs to be taken back to get our pride back.”
Taking back control is something important to Joey Laifoo, who runs Island Stars cafe and mentors young men on Thursday Island.
He teaches the boys culture and dance, building confidence, and hopefully employment opportunities.
Mr Laifoo said he hopes having more self-determination in the region will mean more opportunities for locals to make their own decisions, run their own businesses, and for young people to see their future can hold whatever they like.
“You don't see Islanders own anything up here,” he said.
“You have small businesses operating for a long time but it's always someone else coming out and starting their business here.
“Our dream is always our own people running our own stuff here.
“If I can see [young people] running their own businesses up here, that makes me happy because that's our next generation and they will pass that knowledge on to the next generation again.”
The Point airs on Tuesday at 7.30pm on NITV, and is available on SBS On Demand after broadcast
